How To Move Through Being Triggered (Fast)
Yesterday, I spent hours and hours and hours writing, rewriting, and rewriting again an email to go out to 6,000 people on my mailing list (Type A perfectionists, unite). I finally hit send (cue a sigh of relief), and then someone replied to one of my emails: “I love you, but this feels like it was written by AI. I miss your original content.”
No malintent (and everyone is entitled to their opinion, sure). But ouch. OUCH. That hurt. And immediately, that email lit my brain up like a Christmas tree. Not with logic, but with old neural pathways. The ones that whisper: oh, that’s embarrassing, you’re not good enough, you should just quit, no one wants this, you’re wasting everyone’s time.
If you’ve ever spiraled after the tiniest bit of feedback, you’re not broken. You’re actually normal. Your brain and body are wired for survival and constantly scanning the world for threat.
When we encounter a perceived threat to our self-worth, especially around rejection or failure, the amygdala (our brain's fear center) activates. This is the same structure that kept our ancestors alive in the wild, and it’s still scanning for danger today, all the time. But the thing about danger in today’s world is that it often looks like a sentence in an email or the three dots appearing on a screen, not a lion outside the cave. In people with Rejection Sensitivity Dysphoria (RSD), often linked to ADHD, CPTSD, and trauma, this response to rejection or criticism is even more intense, and you can feel it in your body. A 2019 study published in Frontiers in Human Neuroscience found that individuals with heightened rejection sensitivity show increased amygdala reactivity, meaning their brains perceive rejection as a more serious threat, triggering stronger stress responses.
But here’s the good part. When that email hit, it actually showed me how far I’ve come from doing the work. So here’s what I did, and more importantly, why it worked to move through the trigger fast — biologically, neurologically, and emotionally.
1. I cried. Emotional crying helps regulate your nervous system. A 1981 study by Dr. William Frey at the Ramsey Medical Center found that emotional tears (not reflex tears) contain stress hormones like adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) and cortisol. This means crying can literally help your body flush out the physical byproducts of stress. I let the tears come. No shame. Just a biological release.
2. I shared vulnerably with a friend. According to Brené Brown’s research and a 2021 study in the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, speaking your shame or discomfort in safe, supportive relationships activates areas of the brain related to trust and social bonding, helping to calm the limbic system. Shame thrives in silence. When you bring it into the light with someone who won’t judge you, it softens. One of my biggest learnings on this journey is that more pain happens when you suppress and silence.
3. I got a cuddle from my boyfriend. Physical touch is one of the fastest ways to regulate the nervous system. A 2005 study published in Psychosomatic Medicine found that warm touch (even holding hands) increases oxytocin while lowering blood pressure and cortisol levels. Oxytocin is your “safety” hormone and a master regulator for the female nervous system. It tells your body, I’m loved, I’m safe, I can relax, I can regulate.
4. I did 4-7-8 breathwork. This breath technique — inhale for 4 seconds, hold for 7, exhale for 8 — activates the parasympathetic nervous system, which helps reverse the stress response. A 2017 study in the Journal of Clinical Psychology found that slow, controlled breathing not only reduces cortisol levels but also enhances prefrontal cortex activity, which is responsible for rational thinking. It helps your brain shift out of panic mode and into clarity.
5. I walked it out. But not just any walk. I pressed play on one of my Walking Elevation tracks. These are walking rituals I created inside Daily Devotion that combine walking, bilateral movement, affirmations, breath cues, and somatic scripting. A 2018 study in Frontiers in Psychology explains that bilateral stimulation, the rhythmic left-right movement used in walking and EMDR therapy, facilitates emotional processing and reduces the vividness of distressing thoughts. Walking also boosts brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), a protein that supports neuroplasticity, according to a 2014 study in the Journal of Physiology. Simply put, when I walk with intention, I’m literally rewiring my brain.
So, after this trigger that stung, I went through this process and hit the treadmill. About 20 minutes in, I looked up at the skyline of Mexico City. The sun was shining. I was sweating. I felt good. Proud. Not because I avoided being triggered, but because I had moved through it fast. I used tools that supported my biology. And not just that, I had strengthened the pathways I wanted to fire. “I am safe. I am okay. It is safe to be seen, to be perceived, to be judged. It is okay to be me.”
That’s the part no one talks about. Healing isn’t about never getting triggered again. It’s about how you can sit with the discomfort, move through the shift, and return to yourself. And the speed of that comeback depends on the tools you have on hand.
If you’re time-poor and emotionally overloaded, like most of us are, you don’t need another wellness to-do. You need something that fits into your life. That’s why I created Walking Elevations — 15 to 30-minute audio sessions that turn your daily walk into a moment of nervous system regulation, subconscious rewiring, and inner empowerment.
👉 Try your first Walking Elevation free with a 7-day trial at Daily Devotion.
Louise x
SOURCES
Rejection Sensitivity and Amygdala Reactivity: Frontiers in Human Neuroscience (2019) https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnhum.2019.00094/full
Emotional Tears Contain Stress Hormones: Dr. William Frey, Ramsey Medical Center (1981) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7262043
Social Sharing and Shame Regulation: Journal of Social and Personal Relationships (2021) https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0265407520984538
Oxytocin and Touch Reduces Stress Psychosomatic Medicine (2005) https://journals.lww.com/psychosomaticmedicine/Fulltext/2005/05000/Emotional_Support_and_Physical_Touch__Influences.20.aspx
4-7-8 Breathing and Prefrontal Cortex Activation Journal of Clinical Psychology (2017) https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jclp.22520
Bilateral Stimulation + Walking Reduces Emotional Distress Frontiers in Psychology (2018) https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02079/full
Walking Boosts BDNF and Supports Neuroplasticity Journal of Physiology (2014) https://physoc.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1113/jphysiol.2014.282293
