If you’ve been fortunate enough to spend most of your life in a ventral vagal nervous system state, you might not fully understand what it’s like to experience a dorsal state. You may not realize the toll it takes when an overactive inner critic constantly drives negative self-perception at every turn, or when your perspective is persistently shaped by a sense of scarcity and inadequacy, no matter the situation.
You might not comprehend the profound exhaustion of trying to push forward when every cell in your body feels like giving up. The pervasive sense of disconnection and isolation—saturating every part of one’s being—might be entirely foreign to you.
It’s easy to see the surface symptoms without grasping the deeper struggles beneath. If ventral has been your baseline—the state that fosters joy, creativity, love, and self-worth—take a moment to be grateful. And before passing judgment, consider the privilege of never having lived through what you cannot truly understand.