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8 Daily Micro Habits That *Actually* Heal Your Nervous System · Bye Bye Panic

• 0:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: eight microhabits to heal your nervous system.
• 0:03
  [SPEAKER_00]: I hate to break it to, but if you're dealing with constant chronic symptoms, panic attacks and truths of thoughts, even when nothing is wrong, it's not because you're not doing enough cold plunges or breathing exercises.
• 0:16
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's because your nervous system has started to overreact to everything.
• 0:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: So even the slightest stress feels like an
• 0:25
  [SPEAKER_00]: and here's the worst part.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: Every time you try to make the feelings go away, you keep the cycle going.
• 0:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: These microhabits I'm about to share with you do the exact opposite.
• 0:37
  [SPEAKER_00]: They teach your nervous system to stop overreacting and as a result, the symptoms start to lift and your nervous system begins to heal.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: Let's jump right into it.
• 0:47
  [SPEAKER_00]: Microhabit number one, the five second pause.
• 0:51
  [SPEAKER_00]: Whenever you feel that chronic symptom, whether it's dizziness, digestive issues, brain fog, just pause for five seconds before reacting.
• 1:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: One of my favorite quotes that emphasizes this comes from Victor Franco, who's an Austrian psychiatrist, who says, between a stimulus and a response, there is a space.
• 1:13
  [SPEAKER_00]: And in our response, lies our growth and our freedom.
• 1:17
  [SPEAKER_00]: In those five seconds, you're not trying to suppress or fight what you feel.
• 1:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: You're simply allowing for space, space for awareness, space for choice, space for your nervous system to realize that not every alarm means emergency.
• 1:33
  [SPEAKER_00]: So every time you take that five-second pause, you're proving that you can feel discomfort without reacting and fear.
• 1:41
  [SPEAKER_00]: When you do this, your nervous system begins to learn to turn off these false alarms.
• 1:47
  [SPEAKER_00]: This is where decensitization begins.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: Because you show that this is an emergency and your nervous system begins to get the hint.
• 1:56
  [SPEAKER_00]: So next time you feel like chronic symptom, just observe it.
• 2:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: Don't react in panic, don't try to fix it, just let it be there.
• 2:04
  [SPEAKER_00]: Now, the five second pause allows you to respond internally.
• 2:08
  [SPEAKER_00]: But what do you do externally?
• 2:10
  [SPEAKER_00]: This leads me to microhabit number two, which is stay 10% longer.
• 2:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: When chronic symptoms flare up in a situation, maybe it's during a conversation, maybe it's in a crowded store, even while driving, your first instinct you'll notice is to escape, is to avoid the feeling.
• 2:29
  [SPEAKER_00]: That urge to leave is your nervous system's way of saying, I don't feel safe here, and I need to get out of here.
• 2:36
  [SPEAKER_00]: But here's what your nervous system may not realize, is that it's not the situation that's unsafe, but it's your body's prediction of what might happen if you can't escape.
• 2:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: that is the issue.
• 2:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: So your nervous system has learned that when discomfort rises, escape equals safety.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: So every time you rush out, you unintentionally reinforce that belief.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: The 10% longer rule gently rewires that pattern when you feel that impulse to leave, just stay 10% longer than you normally would.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: And ask yourself, what am I running away from?
• 3:14
  [SPEAKER_00]: You'll find that what you're trying to escape from is really just a feeling.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: Staying 10% longer builds what I call your window of tolerance.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: And it allows you to stay with that feeling.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: Now you're not forcing yourself, you're not whitenuccling the situation.
• 3:30
  [SPEAKER_00]: You're showing your body something new.
• 3:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: that you can feel discomfort and still be safe.
• 3:36
  [SPEAKER_00]: When you do this consistently, you'll notice that your window of tolerance begins to expand.
• 3:42
  [SPEAKER_00]: situations that might spike your anxiety, now all of a sudden feel neutral.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: Eventually, they'll become fun.
• 3:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: Because your brain is learned through experience, that discomfort doesn't require escape.
• 3:55
  [SPEAKER_00]: So every 10% longer moment is your nervous system updating another step towards freedom.
• 4:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: Now, as you get good at this, I want to incorporate microhabit number three, which is do the one thing that you've been avoiding.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: This doesn't have to be something big, you don't have to go skydiving or climb Mount Everest.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: It can be something small.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: Maybe it's the highway you've been avoiding.
• 4:20
  [SPEAKER_00]: Maybe it's the travel plan you've been putting off.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: Maybe it's even avoiding coffee because it feels like it stirs up your symptoms.
• 4:27
  [SPEAKER_00]: Whatever it is, pick that one thing and do it.
• 4:31
  [SPEAKER_00]: You're doing something very profound here, which is you're choosing to do something, even if you don't feel like it.
• 4:38
  [SPEAKER_00]: Your nervous system has been getting the message that if we don't feel a certain way first, before doing it, we don't do that thing.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: So your nervous system has been dictating your life.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: Doing the one thing you avoid flips that.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: Instead of waiting for a feeling,
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  [SPEAKER_00]: you do the action.
• 4:56
  [SPEAKER_00]: See, your nervous system heals based on action.
• 5:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: We like to think that we need a feel of a certain way and then we do the thing.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: But in order to recalibrate and reset and eventually heal the nervous system, you have to do the thing first and teach your nervous system through experience that this isn't dangerous and that you're going to live your life.
• 5:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: As you do this, you'll notice that the nervous system adjusts to your behaviors.
• 5:23
  [SPEAKER_00]: Instead of the nervous system calling the shots, you are the one calling the shots, and your nervous system works to help and support you as your living life.
• 5:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: Now, I have to preface when you do the thing, the win is not that you felt good doing it.
• 5:40
  [SPEAKER_00]: The win is you did that one thing.
• 5:42
  [SPEAKER_00]: Whether that's grabbing coffee with your friends, going out and having dinner with people traveling, it's not about you feeling sensations or symptoms.
• 5:52
  [SPEAKER_00]: The win is the fact that you what and did it, regardless of how you felt.
• 5:56
  [SPEAKER_00]: And when you do do that thing, make sure to celebrate, feeling the symptom and doing it anyway, that's the win.
• 6:04
  [SPEAKER_00]: That's the whole thing.
• 6:05
  [SPEAKER_00]: What you're doing is that you're showing your nervous system that living life matters more than how you feel.
• 6:11
  [SPEAKER_00]: And over time, your nervous system will adjust to that.
• 6:14
  [SPEAKER_00]: It stops treating the feelings like an emergency because you've stopped organizing your life around it.
• 6:20
  [SPEAKER_00]: So do that one thing, and when you do that every day,
• 6:26
  [SPEAKER_00]: Now, when you do these things that scare you, you're going to have a little voice in your head, that says, yeah, but what if I can't do it?
• 6:33
  [SPEAKER_00]: This leads me to microhaving number four, which is replace what if with even if.
• 6:39
  [SPEAKER_00]: See, when you're dealing with this nervous system stuff, this symptoms send you the one message over and over again.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: You can't handle this.
• 6:47
  [SPEAKER_00]: So whether that's the racing heart, the dizziness, the feeling of dread, the brain fog, they feel so big that you start to believe that you're not capable of getting through them.
• 6:58
  [SPEAKER_00]: And that one belief is often what gets people stuck.
• 7:01
  [SPEAKER_00]: It usually shows up as two words running through your head all day.
• 7:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: What if?
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  [SPEAKER_00]: Notice what that what if is really doing.
• 7:10
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's not just imagining the worst.
• 7:12
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's assuming you won't be able to handle or deal with what comes after.
• 7:17
  [SPEAKER_00]: So your nervous system braces and you slip into fixed mode, scrambling to prevent something that hasn't even happened.
• 7:25
  [SPEAKER_00]: So here's the habit, catch the what if and swap it with even if.
• 7:31
  [SPEAKER_00]: Even if I have a panic attack in that meeting, I'll get through it.
• 7:34
  [SPEAKER_00]: Even if I feel dizzy on the drive, I know it passes.
• 7:38
  [SPEAKER_00]: Even if the feeling comes back, I can handle it.
• 7:40
  [SPEAKER_00]: Here's why this is bigger than it looks.
• 7:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: Even if does the one thing your symptoms have been telling you that you can't do.
• 7:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: It shows you that you can't handle it.
• 7:50
  [SPEAKER_00]: But every time you do do that thing, you build a little bit of what I call core confidence, which is the deep down knowing that even if your biggest fear is actually happened, you'll be okay.
• 8:01
  [SPEAKER_00]: What you're going to find is that as you go through this journey, these what if scenarios don't even happen.
• 8:08
  [SPEAKER_00]: But even if it did happen, you know that you have the confidence, the resources, and the capacity to move through it.
• 8:16
  [SPEAKER_00]: Now speaking of symptoms, this next microhabit is surprisingly very effective, even though it's super simple, which is talk about your symptoms less.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: Here's the thing.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: Every time you talk about your symptoms, you're telling your nervous system that this is important.
• 8:34
  [SPEAKER_00]: Think about all the things in your life that aren't important.
• 8:37
  [SPEAKER_00]: You don't really talk about them all day, right?
• 8:39
  [SPEAKER_00]: Your nervous system has learned that this one thing is important to focus on.
• 8:44
  [SPEAKER_00]: This is the main event.
• 8:46
  [SPEAKER_00]: And what you're doing is that you're pointing a spotlight on your symptoms whenever you're talking about it.
• 8:51
  [SPEAKER_00]: Now, I'm not saying to suppress how you feel and not express how you're really feeling, but you also have to understand that a lot of the symptoms that you're talking about is really a quiet form of reassurance thinking.
• 9:05
  [SPEAKER_00]: You describe the feeling, hoping that someone will tell you that you'll be okay, that this is normal, that there's nothing wrong, or you might use it as a way to not do the things that you know you should be doing because these symptoms are holding you.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: But the worst part of all is that it makes your nervous system more hyper-focused on your symptom.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: You will notice that the more you hyper-focused on a symptom, the louder the symptom gets.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: So here's the habit.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: Start letting some of the waves pass without narrating them.
• 9:36
  [SPEAKER_00]: The symptoms show up and you just let it be there.
• 9:39
  [SPEAKER_00]: Without reaching for your phone to tell someone without announcing it, without running into a group chat, you just let it come.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: and go quietly.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: This is a practice.
• 9:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: And like I mentioned, it's not about bottling everything up or pretending you're fine when you're not.
• 9:54
  [SPEAKER_00]: If you need real support, get it.
• 9:56
  [SPEAKER_00]: But there's a difference between genuine support and a constant play by play for every sensation.
• 10:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: This is about stopping the running commentary that keeps your symptoms at the center of your life.
• 10:07
  [SPEAKER_00]: By the way, if you want help overcoming these symptoms, we have a recovery program that guides people from overcoming these symptoms to living fully and freely.
• 10:17
  [SPEAKER_00]: All that information is in the description box below.
• 10:20
  [SPEAKER_00]: Now, here's the goal about not talking about your symptoms.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: You want your symptoms to become boring, unremarkable, not even worth mentioning, and the less you talk about them, the less important they become.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: Now in the beginning, it's gonna feel very difficult.
• 10:35
  [SPEAKER_00]: And you're gonna feel this urgency of the symptom.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: As you continue this practice, as you continue this microhabit, you will notice that the symptom loses its importance over time.
• 10:46
  [SPEAKER_00]: And here's the thing, if you want to talk about your symptoms, call it for what it is.
• 10:52
  [SPEAKER_00]: When the symptom shows up, give it a simple label and that is the next microhabit, which is call it a false alarm.
• 11:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: Whenever you feel a symptom or sensation, instead of thinking there's something wrong, you've broken something or you're unwell, call it for what it is.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: Your nervous system is just sending a false alarm.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: Think of it as a smoke detector that just becomes too sensitive.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: It's ringing even when there's no smoke.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: As you practice these microhabits, the smoke detector begins to recalibrate on its own.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: But anytime it reacts with smoke and the alarm goes off and you react to it and you try to fix it, you're teaching that smoke alarm system that it was calibrated correctly.
• 11:36
  [SPEAKER_00]: that there was a true dangerous moment where there was fire.
• 11:40
  [SPEAKER_00]: Once you start labeling this as a false alarm, you'll notice that the urgency to try to fix the symptoms won't be there.
• 11:47
  [SPEAKER_00]: You'll notice that the alarm begins to adjust itself without you getting in the way.
• 11:52
  [SPEAKER_00]: Now, here's something important.
• 11:54
  [SPEAKER_00]: A mistake people make is that they will label some of their sensations as a false alarm and not others.
• 12:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: and it's important to label all of these symptoms all these sensations as a false alarm.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: It's often the scariest one or the most debilitating one that we have the hardest time labeling as a false alarm, but it's equally important to throw that in the false alarm category as well.
• 12:18
  [SPEAKER_00]: Now look, this is with the assumption that you've gotten everything ruled out by your doctor, and if you haven't, make sure to get everything medically ruled out.
• 12:27
  [SPEAKER_00]: Get it checked out properly.
• 12:28
  [SPEAKER_00]: Don't make the assumption.
• 12:30
  [SPEAKER_00]: But once the doctor has told you you're okay, or they really don't have any answers or any solutions, you can stop investigating and call this for what it is, a fossil arm.
• 12:39
  [SPEAKER_00]: And here's why this is so powerful.
• 12:42
  [SPEAKER_00]: When you're convinced the symptom might be something wrong, you can't stop focusing on it.
• 12:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: If you feel like something's broken, you're going to scan your body.
• 12:51
  [SPEAKER_00]: You're going to spiral.
• 12:52
  [SPEAKER_00]: You're going to Google search your symptoms.
• 12:54
  [SPEAKER_00]: Labeling it as a false alarm cuts all of that at the root.
• 12:58
  [SPEAKER_00]: And here's the most important part of all.
• 13:01
  [SPEAKER_00]: It removes you from hyper focusing on the sensation.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: Most importantly, it stops you from believing that you're broken.
• 13:08
  [SPEAKER_00]: Because you're not.
• 13:10
  [SPEAKER_00]: You just have a system that needs a little bit of recalibrating.
• 13:14
  [SPEAKER_00]: And every time you call it a false alarm and carry on, you're doing exactly that.
• 13:18
  [SPEAKER_00]: You're recalibrating it.
• 13:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: You're teaching it and your nervous system begins to adjust.
• 13:23
  [SPEAKER_00]: Now, as you do this, you're going to ask yourself, am I doing this right?
• 13:26
  [SPEAKER_00]: Am I doing this correctly?
• 13:27
  [SPEAKER_00]: This leads me to microhabit number seven, which is just aim for good enough.
• 13:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: When you've developed a sensitive nervous system, you tend to attack recovery the same way you attack everything else, which is perfectly.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: You want to do the habits exactly right.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: You want a clean streak of good days.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: You want to heal the correct way on schedule, no setbacks.
• 13:51
  [SPEAKER_00]: And the second you have a bad day, you feel like you've failed that you're back at square one, like it's not working.
• 13:57
  [SPEAKER_00]: But here's the problem.
• 13:59
  [SPEAKER_00]: that drive to do it perfectly, that's the same nervous system energy that got you here, which is perfectionism.
• 14:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: Perfectionism is just pressure.
• 14:08
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's you demanding that things go a certain way or else.
• 14:12
  [SPEAKER_00]: And your nervous system reads that pressure as one more threat.
• 14:17
  [SPEAKER_00]: So chasing a flawless recovery is actually keeping the alarms on.
• 14:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: So here's the habit, stop aiming for perfection, aim for good enough.
• 14:26
  [SPEAKER_00]: Did you go on that highway drive with felt anxious the whole way?
• 14:29
  [SPEAKER_00]: That's good enough.
• 14:31
  [SPEAKER_00]: That's what counts.
• 14:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: You caught one what if today and miss 10?
• 14:36
  [SPEAKER_00]: That's good enough.
• 14:37
  [SPEAKER_00]: You had one bad week after a good one.
• 14:40
  [SPEAKER_00]: Completely normal.
• 14:41
  [SPEAKER_00]: Good enough.
• 14:42
  [SPEAKER_00]: You don't need an A plus recovery.
• 14:45
  [SPEAKER_00]: You need a messy, good enough real life recovery because that's the only type that actually exists.
• 14:51
  [SPEAKER_00]: Now the last micro habit is the most important of all, which is live towards something.
• 14:58
  [SPEAKER_00]: Here's something I've noticed in almost everyone with a hypersensitive nervous system and dealing with chronic symptoms.
• 15:05
  [SPEAKER_00]: Their whole life has quietly become about managing the feelings, the sensations, the emotions.
• 15:11
  [SPEAKER_00]: Every decision runs through one filter.
• 15:14
  [SPEAKER_00]: Will this make my symptoms worse?
• 15:16
  [SPEAKER_00]: Can I handle it?
• 15:17
  [SPEAKER_00]: What if I don't feel okay?
• 15:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: The symptoms move into the center of their life and everything else slowly orbits around them.
• 15:25
  [SPEAKER_00]: But here's what's happening.
• 15:27
  [SPEAKER_00]: The more you shrink your life down to managing symptoms, the more important those symptoms become.
• 15:33
  [SPEAKER_00]: You've made the feeling, the main character of your entire life.
• 15:38
  [SPEAKER_00]: So of course your nervous system treats it like it's matters more than anything else.
• 15:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: So here's the habit.
• 15:45
  [SPEAKER_00]: Pick one thing that has nothing to do with your symptoms and start living towards it.
• 15:50
  [SPEAKER_00]: Hobby you dropped a goal you shelved because you were waiting to feel better,
• 15:55
  [SPEAKER_00]: and start working to becoming that person now.
• 15:58
  [SPEAKER_00]: learn the thing, build the thing, start planning the trip, start showing up for someone else.
• 16:04
  [SPEAKER_00]: It doesn't have to be something big, it just has to be something you've chosen to make more important than how you feel.
• 16:11
  [SPEAKER_00]: And here's why this is important in white works, because every little bit of energy you put into something meaningful besides your symptoms begins to tell your nervous system that it doesn't matter how you feel.
• 16:23
  [SPEAKER_00]: The focus begins to shift from your symptoms
• 16:28
  [SPEAKER_00]: We think that if we stay focused on the symptoms, we can make this go away.
• 16:33
  [SPEAKER_00]: But it's that exact focus that's reinforcing the cycle.
• 16:37
  [SPEAKER_00]: Once you begin focusing on other things, things that you've chosen, even if you don't feel 100% ready, your nervous system starts reorienting towards that.
• 16:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: You stop fighting the feeling and you will notice slowly that feeling that symptom stops becoming the main character, because something else has taken the lead role.
• 16:59
  [SPEAKER_00]: Your nervous system follows your attention.
• 17:01
  [SPEAKER_00]: When your life is about living, it learns that living is the priority, not protecting you from a feeling worse symptom, that was never dangerous.
• 17:10
  [SPEAKER_00]: And here's the deepest part of all of this.
• 17:13
  [SPEAKER_00]: Recovery is never really about getting rid of symptoms.
• 17:16
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's about getting your life back.
• 17:18
  [SPEAKER_00]: So you don't wait until the symptoms are gone to start living.
• 17:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: You start living now a little today and the living itself is what teaches your nervous system.
• 17:28
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's safe to let go.
• 17:30
  [SPEAKER_00]: So you don't put your life on hold until you feel better.
• 17:33
  [SPEAKER_00]: You pick the one thing that matters to you and you start moving towards it.
• 17:38
  [SPEAKER_00]: The reality is that healing and nervous system is not a straight line, you will have good days and bad days, sometimes in the same hour.
• 17:46
  [SPEAKER_00]: And a bad day isn't a setback.
• 17:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's not proof that it's not working.
• 17:50
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's just a day.
• 17:51
  [SPEAKER_00]: The people that recover aren't the ones who did it perfectly.
• 17:54
  [SPEAKER_00]: They're the ones who kept doing it even if it wasn't perfect.
• 17:58
  [SPEAKER_00]: I watched people who were certain that they were too far gone.
• 18:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: People who'd been struggling for decades slowly get their lives back.
• 18:07
  [SPEAKER_00]: Not because they found some secret, but because they stopped waiting to feel ready and started living life one choice at a time.
• 18:14
  [SPEAKER_00]: These microhabits will help you begin living your life and in the background, your nervous system will begin to heal.
• 18:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: So be gentle with yourself and body these things and move forward on your healing journey.
• 18:26
  [SPEAKER_00]: Thanks for watching.