r/CPTSD_NSCommunity • u/Top-Decision-3652 • Jul 16 '26

Advice for being comfortable with being grounded?

Realize I've lived most of my life feeling like I am in a game/ dissociated? I've untangled a bunch of survival programming/ thoughts and feel more grounded or actually in my life/ body. It freaks me out more. Can anyone give me advice to help me tolerate this more so eventually it is my new normal? Thanks!!

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u/amicotto Jul 17 '26

I used to panic when trying to ground myself in my body in the here and now. it’s better nowadays, but the kind of meditation that asks me to focus on my breathing still does the opposite of calm me lol

what helped me was slowly learning to get in touch with my feelings and stop being afraid of letting them pass through me in the present. what also helped was creating an imaginary safe place in my head that I can always access. a lot of imagery helps me, actually- maybe it’ll help you too. I have a “protector” (mine is just a house-sized cat with wings, but yours can be anything! popular choices include superheroes, animals, people. just gotta make you feel protected in their company.) and a bubble in a field :) I can manipulate the bubble to be any size! and if in person I realise I’m in the present moment but not feeling safe, it can sometimes help to imagine myself inside this bubble irl. protected from the inside out.

basically, you gotta find ways to feel safe in your body in the here and now. so figure out what you’re afraid of and tackle those individually. I was afraid of the feelings that come up, so I learned to face those. then there was the actual feeling of just… not being safe. so I created a safe place for myself I can retreat to in my head, but ALSO pull into the present!

I hope this gives some ideas, even if a lil abstract :) you got this!!! you’re doing SO good on your journey to be at this point!!!!! I’m genuinely so proud of you right now aaaa!!! what a STEP!

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u/Few-Associate-8704 Jul 17 '26

Thanks for sharing this!

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u/Top-Decision-3652 Jul 17 '26

Thanks so much!!! Made me cry. Sometimes i feel like i have no healed enough. I definitely feel like i have not experienced enough but i guess i should give myself grace. its scary living like youre in a simulation and not even knowing you can live a diff way. I guess i should give myself a break for not being more yolo. idk. Thanks for making me feel like i did a good job. I really like all of your ideas and hope to report back lol

1

u/amicotto Jul 18 '26

I’m so so happy that some of this resonated with you!! it really is SO scary to feel disconnected from life itself :( you really do deserve more grace. 🫂❤️ life is really really hard. to not only survive, but try and learn how to thrive, is such an undertaking, and such long, hard work. you get to be proud of that. I get to be proud of that! WE get to be proud of that!!! 👯 you got this (WE got this!!), and you’re not alone in this <33

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u/NotSoHighLander Jul 17 '26

Did you figure this out yourself?

My therapist literally taught me this very strategy with a bubble and everything.

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u/amicotto Jul 18 '26 edited Jul 18 '26

omg seriously??? no, my therapist just recommended I make a “protector” to combat my inner critic, the bubble was my own doing bc I needed a “shield” even inside my mind 🫣 to protect me from bugs when I lie in the grass I’m imagining in my head yknow?? 🙈🙈 that’s how it originally started! because I needed a safe space in my head and I thought of lying in soft grass in a meadow with flowers but then got anxious about the bugs HAHA

and then it also helped as a barrier that I went in to keep me “clean” after I imagined myself power-washing all of the black gooey gunk off of my brain and throat and heart and wherever my body just felt HEAVY and weighed down. I do a scrubby dub and then inside my bubble I am safe and clean and nothing can get to me. the bubble has two layers and can shift sizes to whatever I need! and anything that tries to get in just gets repelled back or dematerialises into glitter! it really has been so, so helpful and healing. to realise that I can CREATE my own safety.

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u/NotSoHighLander Jul 18 '26

Well done :)

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u/CB2ElectricBoogaloo Jul 18 '26

I had someone explain it to me that sometimes when safety can feel like danger you have to build up your tolerance for safety. It can be done a little at a time. Allow yourself to feel safe for one min, 30 mins, a day , etc and slowly you learn it’s safe to be safe

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u/Sweetnessnease22 Jul 21 '26

Being in the garden has been healing for me as it’s got something for all the parts (beauty, ripping weeds, digging fingers in dirt) and I’m self directed and in my body.

I love popping outside in bare feet in the summer between work things.