why your nervous system doesn’t trust success

If you feel stuck in the cycle of chasing “the next” and never feel satisfied —
you’re not ungrateful.
You’re probably unregulated.

Here’s why:

🏹 Dopamine vs. Fulfillment
Dopamine rewards novelty, not nourishment.
It spikes with anticipation — but crashes after.
So if your drive is rooted in seeking a feeling, the reward will always feel out of reach.

🧠 Fawn-Based Productivity
High-achieving people often grew up earning love through output.
If your nervous system still equates being seen with being useful,
rest feels unsafe — and success feels like a fluke.

🌪️ Chronic Hypervigilance
When your body is stuck in a low-grade stress loop (even years after trauma),
it will interpret slowness as threat.
Which means you can hit every goal and still feel anxious, flat, or unworthy.

The problem isn’t your ambition.
It’s what your ambition is trying to fix.

Until safety is felt,
success won’t feel real.

✧ soft anchor:

This isn’t about working less.
It’s about redefining what enough feels like — inside your body, not your calendar.

🌒 return to self:

→ read the original story: the chase felt like progress — until i broke in place → cracks in the mirror
→ reflect: the ache beneath achievement → underneath