Rob Dial

Even if that familiar thing is making you miserable.

And so that's why people stay in toxic relationships, or they stay in jobs that they hate, or they stay in patterns that destroy them, or they stay in self-doubt for years.

Because familiar feels safe to the nervous system, even if it's chaos, even if it's painful.

Familiar feels safe.

even if it's not making your life head in the right direction, okay?

And this is the reason why anxiety feels automatic.

Like if we think about anxiety for a second, most anxiety is system one, trying to predict danger.

That's it.

Your brain scanning the future and saying, what could go wrong?

What if this fails?

What if they reject me?

What if I embarrass myself?

Protection, protection, protection, protection.

And your body responds like the danger is happening right now, even though it's all imaginary.

It's all in your mind.

Your heart races, your chest tightens, your nervous system activates because your system one part of your brain cannot tell the difference between real danger that's actually in this present moment and imagined danger that your brain is just conjuring up out of nothing.

Which is why people, myself included, I've done this many times in my life, can literally stress themselves out while laying safely in bed.

That's how powerful your mind is.

Think about this, for instance.

Have you ever had this happen to you in some sort of way?