The Layers of Who You Become

The Layers of Who You Become

8:23

Peel back the layers of who you have become, and what do you find?

Adaptations.

When we decided to encase our consciousness in human form upon this polarized Earth plane, we came in whole and designed to function.

Then we experienced life.

Relationships. Family. Culture. Expectations. Disappointments. Trauma. Love. Loss. Belonging. Rejection.

And our Human Energy System did what it was designed to do:

It adapted.

That isn't a flaw in the system. Adaptation is intelligent.

We learn how to function within the environments we are given.

Some of us learn to survive through openness. We become accommodating, helpful, available. The yes-people. We read the room, anticipate what everyone needs, overshare, overgive and make ourselves incredibly useful.

Others learn to survive through containment. We become self-reliant, private, cautious. We reveal very little, need very little and keep everything close to the vest.

And there are a thousand variations in between.

The adaptation isn't the problem.

The problem begins when we continue adapting long after the environment that required it is gone. What began as a response becomes a pattern. The pattern becomes behavior.

The behavior becomes a way of living. Eventually, your entire Human Energy System begins organizing around adaptations you don't even realize you're still making.

That's when it starts costing you.

When Adaptation Starts Affecting Your Health

Let's take the overgiver:

You are capable. Helpful. Dependable. People know they can count on you.

And frankly, you probably like that they can. So, you say yes.

One more client.

One more project.

One more favor.

One more person who needs something.

Meanwhile, you haven't eaten properly.

You didn't exercise.

You haven't played with your children or really connected with your partner.

Your workday ended two hours ago, but you're still there because there is just one more thing.

Leaving the Self, with no time for contemplation.

No space for regulation.

No energy left for creativity.

And then, insult to injury, comes the self-condemnation because you're not doing the things you want to do at the level you know you're capable of.

Because... there's not enough time.

Not enough energy.

Not enough space.

Not enough of you left.

And this is where an adaptation that once helped you function can begin interfering with healthy function. Because your Human Energy System doesn't separate the life you're living from the body living it. Your brain, body, and biofield are continually communicating and responding to the way you move through your life.

When you keep overriding hunger.

Keep pushing through exhaustion.

Keep ignoring tension.

Keep saying yes when everything in you is saying, I don't have it.

Keep giving your attention away while expecting your body to somehow keep producing the energy to support it.

Your system will adapt. Until it can't keep compensating in the same way.

And eventually, you may notice...

You're not sleeping well.

You're exhausted when you wake up.

Your digestion has changed.

Your body hurts.

Your brain feels foggy.

You're irritated by things that never bothered you before.

You can't focus.

You don't want to be touched.

You don't feel creative.

Things you once loved feel like work.

And somewhere along the way, you hear yourself say:

“I don't feel like myself anymore.”

There it is.

But...what if the Self isn't gone? What if it's buried underneath years of adaptation?

So Where Are You in Your Own Life?

This is the important part because your responses give you information.

Do you say yes before you've even checked in with yourself?

Instead of automatically giving what little time or energy you have left to accommodate again, ask:

Do I actually have the time, energy and presence for this?

What will I have to take away from myself in order to give this?

Here's a tough one most people-pleasers never consider:

Have I cared for myself first?

Have I eaten?

Moved my body?

Rested?

Spent time with the people I love?

Have I given myself any of the attention I am so willing to give everyone else?

And underneath all of that:

Am I continually making myself available because somewhere in me I still believe that's how I belong?

Do I feel valuable because they ask me, because they need me?

What motivated my response? What was my why?

Is this response supporting my health?

And my favorite: Where am I in all of this?

Because sometimes what feels like you is simply an adaptation you've belonged to for so long, you've forgotten there is something underneath it.

There is.

You.

And maybe feeling like yourself again isn't about becoming someone new.

Maybe it's about peeling back the adaptations that no longer support you, so you can consciously choose what does.