An ode to ‘feeling wrecked’ right now

In defence of not feeling like you have it together right now

Working with clients, I have noticed there is a quiet panic many people feel right now where their nervous system seems to be const

antly overwhelmed – wired, exhausted, reactive, or numb. The instinct is to fix it, calm it, regulate it as quickly as possible. But what if feeling “wrecked” isn’t a malfunction?

What if it’s a form of intelligence?

Your nervous system is not designed to make you feel comfortable at all times. It’s designed to respond – to track safety, threat, uncertainty, pressure, and change. And we’re living in a time where those inputs are not only high, but relentless. Constant information, instability, comparison, noise, urgency. For many, there is no real “off” switch anymore.

So when your body feels stretched thin, hyper-alert, or deeply fatigued, it may not be failing. It may be accurately registering the conditions you’re in.

There’s a cultural tendency to individualise this – if you feel dysregulated, you must not be doing enough breathwork, not thinking positively enough, not healing fast enough. But that framing quietly places the burden back on the individual, rather than acknowledging the wider environment shaping the response.

Feeling “wrecked” can be a sign that your system is working exactly as it should: noticing, adapting, trying to protect you.

This doesn’t mean you stay stuck there or avoid supporting yourself. Regulation matters. Rest matters. Slowing down matters. But those things land differently when they come from respect instead of self-correction.

Instead of asking, *“How do I stop feeling like this?”*

it can be more useful to ask, *“What is my system responding to and what might it need from me right now?”

Sometimes the answer isn’t optimisation.

Sometimes it’s permission.