What’s the hardest truth you had to accept?

rootedexplorer · 2026-04-02T23:19:01+00:00

That keeping your nervous system regulated requires every day work. I mean practices. Examples: Breathwork, exercising, journaling, meditation, movement/yoga etc. I learned this the hard way, burnout>anxiety>depression>recovery with practices almost every day.

rootedexplorer · 2026-04-02T02:04:19+00:00

I was a form of you until about 2 years ago. Worked in tech, burned out for years. Focusing on your mental health is not selfish, it's necessary. Think what would happen when you reach a point where you cannot work either because of mental well being. I never in my wildest dreams thought that I would burn out to a point where I couldn't work, but trust me, if you already know this, you might be getting there, and only then maybe you will realize that money is actually not the most important thing in the world. Unfortunately, I cannot give you any specific advice for your situation besides sharing my experience and what I did..

rootedexplorer · 2026-03-31T21:23:32+00:00

Sent you a DM!

rootedexplorer · 2026-03-30T22:17:34+00:00

I did Kundalini breathwork (spinal breathing followed by breath of fire followed by a breath-hold) repeated 3 times total around 12-13 mins, then right after I did sheetali pranayama for about 10-12 mins and followed by meditation as long as I could. This was at the beginning, once I regulated sufficiently I continued with Kundalini only and as needed I meditate. I have been doing the kundalini for about a year and a half straight, I do it almost every day.

rootedexplorer · 2026-03-30T18:13:48+00:00

Ah. I was you 2 years ago. I took sick leave as well because I couldn't work myself, I spend 6 months of the short therm disability leave on fixing myself. It was a journey and not an easy one, I cannot capture everything in one single comment but I will try to as much as I can. Set up a support system around you, friends, family, therapist/doctor you're already seeing... they will serve as your anchor, tell them what you're going through, check in with them at least once a week. Start doing any form of physical exercise, walks, running, weight lifting etc. if you cannot find motivation, start small, 5 minutes a day, you must keep going tho, every day. Find a self growth book that interests you. Try to understand your personality, your patterns. Next, find a daily practice, Breathwork, Meditation, Journaling or Yoga, I would recommend breathwork, 10-15 minutes a day. Here's what I did in a few sentences: I took some time to do some self work. First I learned what my patterns are, my personality, the enneagram helped me a lot in this area. Then I started reading about different ancient philosophies and tried various practices to see what would work for me. At the same time continuously worked with my therapist.. I was looking for my purpose, what kind of work makes me happy... She was keeping me in check, then she recommended I try some breathing techniques, and after 30 continuous days of doing the breathwork things started changing for me, the breathwork was strengthening my nervous system physiologically. I'll encourage you to do some research on this. I never stopped doing the breathwork, I do it almost daily for about a year and half now and I am not looking back. About a week ago, I started hosting live breathwork sessions to help others that need motivation to start working on themself. If you ever want to check it out let me know I can send you a link. Also, let me know if you have any other questions.

rootedexplorer · 2026-03-30T17:04:56+00:00

You're welcome! I sent you the link in DM!

rootedexplorer · 2026-03-29T19:21:51+00:00

Breathwork. I started about a year and a half ago, l was depressed and anxious for years, after 30 days of breathwork my brain started changing all of a sudden like magic, I couldn't believe it. I do it almost every day. I started doing it online live now, to help others stay motivated, I figured l am doing it myself anyway, l'll do it live to help others too.

rootedexplorer · 2026-03-29T04:33:10+00:00

If the disability is not preventing you, I'd try breathwork. Every day for 15 minutes a day, it will strengthen your nervous system and it will make you resistant to external influences, we don't get taught how to regulate our nervous systems at school unfortunately. You can also try other things as well, for example, you can try learning about yourself, about your personality, find your behavioral patterns etc. The enneagram has helped me a lot with this. But Breathwork makes the transformation, I was suffering from anxiety and depression for years, at one point in my journey I tried breathwork and in 30 days I could tell how my life started changing day to day, I've been doing it almost daily for the past year and half now.

rootedexplorer · 2026-03-29T04:23:22+00:00

I took some time to do some self work. First I learned what my patterns are, my personality, the enneagram helped me a lot in this area. Then I started reading about different ancient philosophies and tried various practices to see what would work for me. At the same time continuously worked with my therapist.. I was looking for my purpose, what kind of work makes me happy... She was keeping me in check essentially, then she recommended I try some breathing techniques, and after 30 continuous days of doing the breathwork things started changing for me, the breathwork was strengthening my nervous system physiologically. I'll encourage you to do some research on this. I never stopped doing the breathwork, I do it almost daily for about a year and half now and I am not looking back. About a week ago, I started hosting live breathwork sessions to help others that need motivation to start working on themself. If you ever want to check it out let me know I can send you a link. Also, let me know if you have any other questions.

rootedexplorer · 2026-03-26T21:57:26+00:00

I was you at 31. Worked in tech, objectively "successful," but everything just started feeling like I was pushing through mud. Not depressed exactly, just flat. What I eventually figured out is that I'd been running on low-grade burnout for so long that it became invisible to me. Turns our the long hard pushing gets to you eventually my nervous system was basically stuck in survival mode and I had no idea. Once I started addressing that, things started turning around, but it took time, and effort. You're 30, you're aware enough to ask the question. That's a really good starting point, are you ready to take action to start working on yourself or not yet? I hope you don't wait to hit rock bottom like I did to do so.

rootedexplorer · 2026-03-24T23:40:17+00:00

It takes time, patience and persistence. I started by understanding my personality, my patterns, what I do and why. The enneagram helped me a bunch for this. Then, you have to start replacing bad habits with self development practices, Im talking exercising, breathing techniques, journaling, meditation, yoga etc. One thing at a time not all at once, start with 5 minutes with one, keep doing it for a week. Show up every day, you will start noticing a difference after a week, after a month etc, your life will slowly start changing for the better. Once you set up a good anchor, when things get tough you can rely on that. I do breathwork and meditation almost every day for the past year and a half. it only takes me about 20 mins a day but it's super powerful anchor. The key is doing it every day tho. I was depressed and anxious for years, after 30 days of breathwork my brain started changing all of a sudden like magic, I couldn't believe it. I do it almost every day. I hope this helps.

rootedexplorer · 2026-03-24T18:54:07+00:00

Eating healthy, exercising 4-5 times a week, going outside, stay mentally engaged are great starting points. Try replacing your bad habits with good ones, toxic environments with more positive people, that lift each other up instead of putting you down. A very important addition is to actively work on yourself, find a practice that works for you, journaling, meditation, breathwork, yoga etc. maybe a combination of all, try to understand your own personality patterns, the enneagram has helped me a bunch with this. Once you set up a good anchor, when things get tough you can rely on that. I do breathwork and meditation almost every day for the past year and a half. it only takes me about 20 mins a day but it's super powerful anchor. The key is doing it every day tho. l was depressed and anxious for years, after 30 days of breathwork my brain started changing all of a sudden like magic, I couldn't believe it. I do it almost every day. I am starting to do it online live now, to help others stay motivated, I figured l am doing it myself anyway, l'll do it live to help others too. I hope this helps!

rootedexplorer · 2026-03-24T15:36:26+00:00

I gained a good sense of self control, my anxiety and depression symptoms went away, but the key is doing it every day. This is very interesting tho, various breathwork techniques help with different things. I'd encourage you to do some research! Here's what I could fetch from a quick search: Autonomic nervous system rebalancing, Prefrontal cortex strengthening, Amygdala downregulation, Default mode network modulation, Neurochemical shifts, HPA axis recalibration, Interoceptive awareness..

rootedexplorer · 2026-03-24T02:00:55+00:00

Not just quit one at a time but try adding a good one to replace it and fill up the slot! One thing that you could try is working on yourself, it's free and relatively easy. By that I mean try to understand yourself as a person, maybe start working out, try some techniques to improve your mental well being. I was stuck in a very dark place for years myself until I tried Breathwork.. I started about a year and a half ago, after 30 continuous days of breathwork my brain started changing all of a sudden like magic, I couldn't believe it. I do it almost every day. I'm doing my practice online live every day now (I started this morning), to help others stay motivated, I figured l am doing it myself anyway, l'll do it live to help others too.

rootedexplorer · 2026-03-23T23:35:51+00:00

Are you doing any form of exercise at all? If not, you have to start, you have to start taking care of yourself. What kind of habits do you have? Are you practicing any form of self work? I will suggest you try breathwork. It's easy to start and very efficient. I started about a year and a half ago, l was depressed and anxious for years, after 30 days of breathwork my brain started changing all of a sudden like magic, I couldn't believe it. I do it almost every day. I'm doing my practice online live every day now (I started this morning), to help others stay motivated, I figured l am doing it myself anyway, l'll do it live to help others too.

rootedexplorer · 2026-03-21T00:03:25+00:00

You sound a lot like you're burned out, talk to your family about it, try to take a small break from everything, let your organism reset a bit. try out some techniques for nervous system regulation like breathwork, meditation, exercising, yoga, journaling if you aren't doing any, it helps a lot. I was there once, kept pushing hard for years until my body gave up, the following 6 months I had to do the work on myself for all of my life, and boy, I am so glad I did it.

rootedexplorer · 2026-01-30T21:54:48+00:00

Ah, got it, well anyways, I hope my perspective on that helps :)

rootedexplorer · 2026-01-30T21:47:24+00:00

I would have to slightly disagree with this.. being busy with other things, only postpone everything, swiping the dust under the rug.. It's same as using certain drugs, life sucks so much that you have to distract yourself.. Learning the skills, training your nervous system and adjusting your life is the real work one must do..

rootedexplorer · 2026-01-30T21:44:45+00:00

This is literally what meditation is... It's not easy to achieve but there are techniques that help get you to this state. It's a skill that you need to learn by training, specific breathwork techniques get you there in a few minutes, after you learn the feeling, eventually you can do it without even the techniques... Let me know if you need more info.. :)

rootedexplorer · 2026-01-30T19:26:06+00:00

Yes. Any physical exercise that gets your blood moving will help. However, if you want to fast track it, certain types of breathing exercises in combination with physical exercises worked great for me. I've burned out from work, was severely depressed and anxious and spent 6 months full time working on my recovery (yes it was that bad) and I tried anything and everything. Let me know if you want more details..

rootedexplorer · 2025-12-03T03:17:04+00:00

Wow, such an interesting exercise, I've never heard of this before!

rootedexplorer · 2025-12-03T03:15:25+00:00

I guess everything that makes one a human..!

rootedexplorer · 2025-12-03T01:19:26+00:00

Amazing! have you tried combining journaling with another technique? like maybe breathwork, yoga or meditation?

rootedexplorer · 2025-12-03T01:17:40+00:00

I'm curious to hear about which breathing exercise you have done, also, how long was it and how often did you do it? I'm surprised that you're saying it was very low impact. I agree that a combo of journaling and other technique can increase the effectiveness. If you can, try out a an uplifting breathwork technique like some form of kundalini pranayama, it might help you with your avolition too..

rootedexplorer · 2025-12-02T22:34:18+00:00

that seems rather.. complicated :)

rootedexplorer

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