What If You’re Not Stuck - You’re Just Carrying Too Much?

Sometimes you don’t realize how much you’ve been carrying until you finally put some of it down.

I was reminded of that recently when I did something I should probably do much more often: I received the kind of work I normally give to other people.

I’ve practiced craniosacral therapy for more than eight years, but ironically, I rarely receive craniosacral work myself. Like a lot of people in helping professions, I’m pretty good at encouraging everyone else to take care of themselves while sometimes forgetting that I need the same thing.

After my recent visit, though, I felt incredible.

I felt lighter, clearer, more open, and more like myself.

My upper body and neck felt different. My head felt clearer. Even the way I was speaking seemed to flow more naturally.

Later that day, I found myself talking with someone about the work I do, and I noticed something: I wasn’t overthinking every word coming out of my mouth.

I was simply talking.

I felt confident. I felt present. I felt like me.

It made me wonder: How much do we carry around every day without even realizing it?

Stress doesn’t always announce itself as stress.

Sometimes it’s the shoulders that never completely relax. Sometimes it’s a clenched jaw, constant overthinking, trying to keep everyone happy, or feeling responsible for everything happening around you.

Sometimes it’s that little voice constantly asking, What will they think of me?

When we live that way long enough, it starts to feel normal.

We become so accustomed to holding everything together that we forget what it feels like to actually let go.

Listening to the Wisdom of the Body

That’s one of the things I find so fascinating about craniosacral therapy.

The work can be incredibly gentle. Instead of constantly trying to force the body into doing something, there is an invitation to slow down, listen, and become curious about what the body is already trying to do.

In the Upledger approach to craniosacral therapy, there is a concept called the Inner Physician.

I think of it as the deeper wisdom within us—the part of ourselves that may understand things our thinking mind hasn’t figured out yet.

Our minds can spend all day analyzing, planning, worrying, questioning, and trying to control everything.

Underneath all that noise, something quieter may already know what we need.

Sometimes we just need enough space to hear it.

We Carry More Than Physical Tension

I’ve also been thinking about how we don’t only carry tension in our bodies.

We carry old beliefs, identities, habits, and ways of moving through the world.

One of those patterns for me has been people-pleasing.

I’ve spent a lot of my life thinking about how other people might perceive me.

Should I say this?

Should I do that?

Is someone going to think I’m weird?

Am I being too much?

Am I doing something wrong?

That kind of thinking can become exhausting because eventually you’re not simply living your life anymore.

You’re experiencing yourself through the imagined eyes of everyone around you.

Recently, I had an opportunity to explore some of these patterns through the Cortina Method, a mind-body approach that works with subconscious patterns and limiting beliefs without necessarily requiring you to spend hours retelling and analyzing the same old story.

I went into the experience specifically wanting to work on my people-pleasing tendencies.

Afterward, I began noticing something interesting.

Old reactions would occasionally show up, but instead of automatically following them, I could see them differently.

I would think:

That’s old Joel.

That’s an old pattern.

I don’t necessarily have to carry that anymore.

Maybe You’re Not Becoming Someone New

I love that idea because I think sometimes we assume transformation means becoming an entirely different person.

Maybe it doesn’t.

Maybe transformation is recognizing which parts of ourselves are authentic and which parts developed because, at some point in our lives, we needed them.

Maybe we learned to stay quiet.

Maybe we learned to keep everyone happy.

Maybe we learned to play it safe, make ourselves smaller, or constantly monitor what everyone else was thinking.

Those patterns may have served a purpose once.

But do they still?

That’s a question I’ve been sitting with lately.

Who Do You Want to Be Today?

I’ve also been getting back into meditation, yoga, self-reflection, and being more intentional about how I start my day.

Think about what most of us do when we wake up.

We open our eyes, grab our phones, start scrolling, check notifications, read emails, look at social media—and suddenly the entire outside world is pouring into our consciousness before we’ve even had a chance to check in with ourselves.

What if we did something different?

What if, before asking the world who we should be today, we decided for ourselves?

Maybe today I want to be curious.

Maybe I want to be confident, playful, grounded, creative, or a little weird.

Maybe I don’t need everyone to understand what I’m doing.

Maybe I don’t need permission to explore the things that fascinate me.

Maybe I can simply become a little more me.

What Are You Ready to Put Down?

The more I explore craniosacral therapy, somatic work, the subconscious mind, meditation, consciousness, and personal transformation, the more I wonder if healing isn’t always about fixing ourselves.

We spend so much time thinking we need to add something.

Another book.

Another training.

Another technique.

Another answer.

But sometimes transformation might be about subtraction.

Putting down some of the weight.

Questioning an old belief.

Releasing someone else’s expectation.

Recognizing a pattern that no longer belongs to you.

Creating enough space inside yourself that you can actually hear your own voice again.

You don’t have to know exactly who you’re becoming.

Maybe you simply start with one question:

What am I carrying that I might not need anymore?

And then perhaps an even more interesting one:

Who might I become if I finally put it down?

You don’t have to know the answer.

Just get curious.

Because sometimes that little spark of curiosity is exactly where the adventure begins.

Something Is Ready to Change

At Fields Mind-Body Therapies, my work explores the fascinating intersection of the body, nervous system, subconscious mind, and the deeper experience of being human.

Through craniosacral therapy, somatic and mind-body approaches, Cortina Method work, and integrative practices, I help people explore patterns that may be keeping them feeling stressed, stuck, disconnected, or simply ready for something different.

You don’t always have to know exactly what you need.

Sometimes you just have a feeling that something is ready to change.

And that’s a pretty good place to start.