From Freakout to Facial: The Science of Chill
- sfglinz
- 6 days ago
- 2 min read
How nervous system capacity makes you resilient without burning out.
On Saturday, I had one of those days that would’ve taken me out for a couple days in the past.
It started at 1 a.m. when our daughter woke up suddenly, wheezing.
We called 811, who advised us to go to the ER.
On Halloween night.
We did — and walked into chaos.
A single doctor. Sixty-five patients.
Concussed toddlers, intoxicated teenagers, men on oxygen, people overdosing, women with bandaged eyes…
It was awful. My body hated it immediately.
Ultimately, we decided not to stay — we decided the stress of sitting in that waiting room was just as bad as the risk to my daughter’s airway.
Thankfully, she woke up the next morning completely fine. Just a bad cold.
But it was also my birthday — a day I’ve historically felt weird about and put way too much pressure on.
Old me would’ve thrown a pity party:
“Of course this would happen on my birthday.”
Then sulk, cry, and feel guilty and selfish for sulking and crying…for a few days.
But here’s what’s wild:
Hours later, I was sitting at the spa in a fluffy robe, sipping tea, completely relaxed. Full ventral.
Not pretending everything was fine — but actually feeling fine.
Like my body had metabolized the stress instead of marinating in it.
That’s what healthy nervous system capacity looks like.
It’s not about never getting triggered.
It’s about how fast you can come home to yourself after you do.
There was a time I thought resilience meant pushing through.
Grinding harder.
Proving I could handle it.
Now I know that real resilience — the kind that creates sustainable success — is about how quickly your system recovers from stress.
It’s about stretching your window of tolerance.
Feeling the surge of chaos without staying there.
Letting your body complete the cycle — and then returning to safety, presence, and ease.
That’s what happened last weekend. My body used to interpret stress as danger.
Now it reads it as a symptom » temporary energy.
Something to breathe through, not brace against.
That’s nervous system growth.
The old version of me would’ve spiralled in the following days — checked emails, overanalyzed, replayed my actions in my head.
The new version of me woke up and went to the spa, took three deep breaths in the parking lot, and told herself:
I’m safe.
That’s not avoidance. That’s integration.
Because when your body trusts that you’ll listen, it stops screaming.
When your system trusts that you can handle anything and you’ll regulate, it stops holding on.
And when your nervous system knows it can move through intensity and return to calm — your whole life expands.
It’s not just bouncing back. It’s coming home faster.
Stay unbothered. Stay unshakeable. Stay strong.
You can’t lose.
xo,
Anne 💙
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