How My Nervous System Found Relief in Figure Skating

A reflection on global anxiety, emotional overload and unexpected catharsis.

Something I have felt a lot lately is desperation.

I look (probably too often) at my Instagram feed and see mostly horrific scenes. War, violence, injustice, fear. A constant stream of human suffering. It is a strange thing to

carry in your pocket.

The global anxiety is intense and it mixes with survivor and privilege guilt:

Why do I get to be okay when others aren’t?

All of this sits on top of my own life in what people call the rush hour of life. Work, motherhood, partnership, responsibility. A three-year-old, a ten-year-old, a full life that already asks a lot. Sometimes it feels overwhelming.

It also feels like the stress loop never finds an ending in this hyper-connected world.

In most crises there is a beginning, a peak, and eventually an end. Your nervous system knows the loop will close. Times change. Things get better. There is relief.

But now the phone is always there. One click away from the next crisis. The loop never ends.

For years something else has been happening to me. I cry at moments that seem completely unrelated. Sometimes I sob. Beautiful music. A newborn baby. Standing ovations for artists or athletes. And this week, especially, figure skating. The combination of artistry, beauty, music and excellence has had me crying a lot.

My family thinks I’m slightly weird. Honestly, I did too.

Until this morning.

I realised this might be my emotions finding a safe place to land. My nervous system is desperately looking for safe ways to process and more importantly, to complete emotions.

Because when we live with constant global anxiety, our stress systems are always slightly activated. More cortisol, more adrenaline, a sense of mental crowding, a constant low-grade alertness. The kind of alertness I personally find the most exhausting.

Most of the worries global anxiety brings come without action we can take. The emotional stress has nowhere to go. No ending. No release.

And this is where figure skating suddenly makes sense to me.

For a few minutes, the emotional loop closes. Beauty, effort, music, excellence, applause. A beginning, a peak and an end. My nervous system finally gets the signal that it can let go.

And so I cry. And afterwards my mind feels quieter.

I guess many people feel something similar right now, especially those trying to lead, decide and care for others while carrying a constant background hum of global uncertainty.

Maybe this is not strange at all. It`s probably the nervous system trying to heal in the safest way it can.

I hope we all find something that brings enough beauty into our days to help us release what we carry.