# When Symptoms Show Up: How to Calm Your Nervous System Before Fear Takes Over

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-cure-for-chronic-pain-with-nicole-sachs-lcsw-487645/when-symptoms-show-up-how-to-calm-your-nervous-system-before-fear-takes-over
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-cure-for-chronic-pain-with-nicole-sachs-lcsw-487645/when-symptoms-show-up-how-to-calm-your-nervous-system-before-fear-takes-over.md
Podcast: [The Cure for Chronic Pain with Nicole Sachs, LCSW](https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-cure-for-chronic-pain-with-nicole-sachs-lcsw-487645)
Published: 2026-06-12T08:11:00+00:00
Episode link: https://tracking.swap.fm/track/JhoQDAATtO1l0y8tdKNa/traffic.megaphone.fm/ADL6935697707.mp3?updated=1781116212
Audio file: https://tracking.swap.fm/track/JhoQDAATtO1l0y8tdKNa/traffic.megaphone.fm/ADL6935697707.mp3?updated=1781116212
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Duration seconds: 2577

## Resource

⁠LEARN HOW TO JOURNALSPEAK In this episode, we dive into what it really means to move through life in alignment, especially when stress, symptoms, anxiety, and overwhelm are all trying to pull you into fear. I share a recent experience from my own life, during a season of major transition, travel, work, family milestones, and my youngest child graduating high school, when a strange new neuropathy-like sensation showed up in my face. Instead of spiraling, Dr. Googling (or Dr. ChatGPTing!), or giving the symptom a terrifying meaning, I used it as an opportunity to practice the work in real time: pausing, noticing, refusing to meet it with fear, and asking what my body might actually be trying to communicate. What came through was not danger, but a need for tenderness, self-compassion, and a gentler way of being with myself. I also share the story of sitting with a dear friend who is struggling with POTS, chronic fatigue, dizziness, nausea, and intense nervous system symptoms, and what happened when she was willing to meet those sensations differently. Rather than collapse into the first reaction of terror, she practiced sitting up, letting the symptoms be there, and discovering that uncomfortable does not have to mean unsafe. This episode is about the life-changing power of the pause between your first reaction and your second one. Your first reaction may be a reflex, shaped by everything you have lived, but your second reaction is where your agency lives. When we stop running from symptoms and begin meeting them with curiosity, compassion, and steadiness, we teach the nervous system that we are safe. Join us! XOOX n. I also share an exciting announcement: Lisa and I will be teaching at Miraval Austin from September 25–27 for a relaxing, immersive retreat experience root…

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