An Open Letter to the Ones Who Feel It in Their Bodies
I’m not going to pretend this is fine.
When the U.S. escalates into another war, it does something to people. It’s destabilizing. It’s enraging. It’s exhausting. And for a lot of us—especially those who already know what it’s like to feel unprotected by systems of power—it doesn’t just feel like foreign policy.
It feels personal.
We’re about a week and a half into this, and a lot of our bodies are still braced.
That makes sense.
When the world feels unstable, our nervous systems start scanning for cues:
💠 Are we safe?
💠 Are the people in charge steady?
💠 Is this going to come closer to my life?
When the answers to these questions feel uncertain, our bodies mobilize.
You might notice buzzing energy, irritability, trouble sleeping, or that low hum of dread sitting in your chest. That wired‑but‑exhausted feeling where your brain won’t fully shut off.
That isn’t you being dramatic.
That’s hyperarousal.
Your sympathetic nervous system is designed to prepare you for threat. The problem is that it doesn’t distinguish very well between a direct and imminent physical danger and repeated exposure to instability through headlines, alerts, speeches, and commentary.
It hears escalation and thinks: prepare.
That preparation energy has to go somewhere.
So if your body feels louder than usual right now, that’s not a personal failing. It’s biology doing its job.
But here’s the part we have to talk about honestly.
We cannot stay clear, strategic, or grounded if our nervous systems are on fire 24/7.
Regulation isn’t about ignoring what’s happening. It’s about protecting our capacity so we don’t burn ourselves out trying to metabolize the entire world alone.
So here are a few grounding techniques that actually help when your nervous system is in hyperarousal.
🫁 Long Exhale Breathing (Yes, the boring one. It works.)
How:
⦿ Inhale for 4 counts
⦿ Exhale for 6–8 counts
⦿ Repeat for 5–10 rounds
Why it works:
Longer exhales activate the vagus nerve (a big communication highway between your brain and body that helps signal safety), which tells your system:
“We’re not running. We’re not fighting. It’s okay to power down.”
Our heart rate slows. Our cortisol levels drop. And our muscles unclench.
It’s not magic.
It’s literal physiology. Science.
If your chest feels tight or your thoughts are racing, this is your first move.
🧊 Cold Water Reset
How:
⦿ Splash cold water on your face
⦿ Stick your head in the freezer
⦿ Or hold an ice cube in your hands
Why it works:
Cold stimulation activates the dive reflex, which slows our heart rate and interrupts adrenaline spikes.
It’s a biological override.
This is especially helpful when we feel like we’re spiraling or on the edge of panic.
🔤 Cognitive Interruption (Play the Alphabet Game)
How:
⦿ Pick a category and go through it A–Z.
⦿ Animals.
⦿ Cities.
⦿ Taylor Swift songs. (You’ll get stuck at Q. It’s fine.)
Why it works:
Hyperarousal narrows your thinking into threat scanning. Alphabet tasks force your prefrontal cortex (that part of our brains responsible for reasoning and decision-making) back online.
You literally shift from:
“Are we safe???”
to
“What animal starts with F?”
That shift matters.
🪨 Orienting to the Room
How:
☆ Look around you and name:
⦿ 5 neutral objects
⦿ 3 colors
⦿ 1 sound you hadn’t noticed before
⦿ Move your head slowly and let your eyes scan.
Why it works:
When we’re activated, our bodies feel like we’re in danger right now.
Orienting tells our nervous system:
“Right now, in this room, in this moment, nothing is attacking me.”
It grounds us in the present instead of the imagined catastrophic future.
💪 Micro‑Movement
Hyperarousal is mobilization energy. If you don’t discharge it, it sits.
Try:
⦿ 10 wall push‑ups
⦿ 30 seconds of shaking out your arms
⦿ A brisk walk around the block
Why it works: It completes the stress cycle. Our body prepared for action—giving it small movement helps metabolize that energy so it can settle.
🧭 Staying Engaged Without Burning Out
And then this part matters.
We can:
⦿ Regulate our nervous systems
⦿ Limit our media intake
⦿ Take strategic action (vote, donate, call reps, support orgs)
⦿ Stay connected to our people
But doom‑scrolling until your jaw locks is not activism.
And dissociating entirely isn’t safety either.
We’re aiming for something in the middle:
Informed. Regulated. Connected.
When the world destabilizes, our attachment systems activate. We look for steadiness. We look for someone grounded.
That’s not weakness.
That’s biology. ‼️
Text someone who feels steady. Sit near someone safe. Let your nervous system borrow calm for a while.
You are allowed to be furious. You are allowed to be scared. You are allowed to be exhausted by living through “historic” headlines again.
But we don’t let panic run the strategy.
We take care of our nervous systems so we can stay clear‑eyed, connected, and capable of responding instead of just reacting.
Regulated rage lasts longer.
And we’re going to need endurance.