The Anxiety Superhighway: Why Your Nervous System Needs Time to Rewire

Have you ever experienced a brief moment of calm, only to feel your familiar anxiety rush back in? You're not alone, and more importantly—you're not doing anything wrong.

Last week, I worked with Susan, a high-achieving executive who's battled chronic anxiety for over a decade. During our session, she shared a frustration that resonates with so many of my clients: "I had this amazing breakthrough moment—about 90 seconds of complete peace. Then suddenly, the anxiety came flooding back even stronger. It's like my body went hunting for the anxiety because it didn't know what to do without it."

The Neural Superhighways of Anxiety

What Susan experienced wasn't a failure—it was her nervous system doing exactly what it's designed to do: maintain homeostasis, even when that "normal" state is chronic anxiety.

Think of your anxiety patterns as superhighways in your brain. These neural pathways have been paved and reinforced over years or even decades. Each time anxiety fires, these pathways become more efficient—the myelin sheath coating these neural connections thickens, making the transmission faster and more automatic.

When we introduce new patterns through regulation techniques like physiological sighs, bilateral stimulation, EFT tapping, or thought work, we're essentially asking your nervous system to take an unfamiliar "dirt road" instead of its familiar superhighway.

The Five Chapters of Change

This journey of creating new neural pathways reminds me of Portia Nelson's profound poem, "Autobiography in Five Short Chapters." In the poem, she describes repeatedly falling into the same hole in the sidewalk—first unaware, then aware but still falling in, then getting out quickly, then walking around it, and finally taking another street entirely.

Autobiography in Five Short Chapters
by Portia Nelson

I.
I walk down the street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I fall in.
I am lost... I am helpless.
It isn't my fault.
It takes forever to find a way out.

II.
I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I pretend I don't see it.
I fall in again.
I can't believe I'm in the same place.
But it isn't my fault.
It still takes a long time to get out.

III.
I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I see it is there.
I still fall in... it's a habit.
My eyes are open.
I know where I am.
It is my fault.
I get out immediately.

IV.
I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I walk around it.

V.
I walk down another street.

This perfectly maps to how we overcome anxiety:

1. Unawareness: We don't even recognize our anxiety patterns
2. Recognition: We notice our patterns but still fall into them
3. Responsibility: We see the patterns and recover more quickly
4. Avoidance: We learn to navigate around triggers rather than falling into them
5. Transformation: We've created entirely new neural pathways—we're literally taking "another street"
   

    Your Path Forward

   Progress with anxiety doesn't happen in one dramatic breakthrough. It unfolds in gradually expanding moments of regulation that eventually become your new normal. The moments of calm that Susan experienced weren't failures because they ended—they were evidence that her nervous system is capable of creating new patterns.

   With each practice session—whether it's a physiological sigh, bilateral stimulation, peripheral vision exercise, or thought restructuring—you're literally carving new neural pathways. The key is consistency and persistence.

   Remember: Your current anxiety patterns weren't created overnight, and neither will your new, regulated patterns be. But with dedicated practice using comprehensive techniques, you're reshaping your nervous system response day by day.

   The journey to lasting calm isn't about eliminating anxiety overnight—it's about patiently building new neural superhighways that will eventually become your path of least resistance. Like the poem reminds us, we start by recognizing the hole, then getting out faster, then walking around it, and finally—finding an entirely new street to travel.

   What chapter are you in on your anxiety journey? Wherever you are, remember that each small moment of awareness and practice is building toward lasting change.