If You’ve Been Feeling Disconnected from Yourself, Read This
A gentle reminder that “disconnected” isn’t a personal failure.
When “fine” is functioning… but you can’t feel yourself
If you’ve been feeling disconnected from yourself lately (like you’re going through the motions, checking the boxes, saying “I’m okay” while something quietly inside you feels far away), you’re not alone.
Modern life is weirdly good at pulling us out of our bodies and away from our truth.
We wake up to notifications, scroll endless feeds filled with the voices of others, spend our days responding, and fall asleep with a buzzing mind that never seems to fully land. And for recovering perfectionists and burnout survivors, it can get even trickier.
You’ve probably noticed it in small, slippery ways.
Doom scrolling even when it doesn’t feel good. Skipping meals or eating whatever’s fastest and wondering why you feel foggy and flat. Sleep is shallow. Body tense, but you don’t realize it until you’re already snappy or numb. You keep promising yourself you’ll get back to journaling, meditating, going for afternoon walks, but everyday…the day somehow disappears and you’re left with that same hollow thought:
Why do I feel so far from myself?
And honestly? Sometimes the disconnection isn’t because you’re “not trying hard enough.”
It’s because some part of you is trying to protect you.
Because coming home to yourself can mean feeling what you’ve been avoiding. Your writing practice, your self-care, your everything.
Not in a dramatic way. More like… the quiet grief you didn’t have time for. The resentment you swallowed. The exhaustion you normalized. The longing you keep postponing. The truth you’re scared will change things.
If you’re the kind of person who takes care of everyone else first, who pushes through until your body forces you to stop, who wants to heal but gets overwhelmed by where to even begin…
this space is for you.
Self-Alchemy Coworking Circle with Marina
If you’ve been feeling disconnected, come find what you’re missing.
Join us for Self-Alchemy Coworking Circle with Marina on Monday, December 15 (6:30 PM – 7:45 PM). We meet biweekly.
RSVP → https://luma.com/8a40j3fv
Together, with our community expert on intuitive development, spiritual growth, energetic boundaries, nervous system grounding, and self-healing, Marina Biggio of Cosmic Marina, LLC we’ll be holding space for members and guests of The Collective to explore self-healing and spiritual growth together in community.
Before joining the circle, listen to this teaching from Marina about boundaries. She’s such a good teacher, and one of the kindest people you’ll ever meet.
Inside this biweekly circle, you’ll find the space you need to finally set aside the time for the emotional, spiritual, and inner-care practices you’ve been craving.
To slow down, open your cast aside journal and locate the lost workbooks, make new connections, and practice the spiritual and emotional skills your sensitive system actually needs to thrive.
Wondering why disconnection can feel so sneaky, even when nothing is “wrong”?
Here’s a gentle preview of what we’ll name together: how disconnection actually happens (it’s usually not dramatic) so you can start finding your way back; clearer, steadier, and not doing it alone.
The Quiet Ways We Drift Away From Ourselves
Most of the time, we don’t “lose ourselves” in one big moment.
It’s quieter than that.
It’s a hundred tiny exits.
Sign #1: You’ve been running on output for so long, your inner life got put on mute.
Overwork isn’t always a packed calendar. Sometimes it’s the way your brain never stops planning, fixing, optimizing. If you’re a recovering perfectionist, you might not even notice you’re doing it. You just keep going, going, going.
Afraid of falling behind.
Running keeps you “ahead”, but it distances you as well.
You start to feel strangely absent inside your own life.
mentally rehearsing what’s next, instead of staying, feeling.
forgetting to ask: is this aligned? do I actually want this?
functional dissociation, productive and pleasant…but flat.
speed without integration, informed but not inhabited.
meals become fuel, rather than satisfying experiences.
connection continues, but with less of you in it.
Sensitive systems feel this fast: too much input, not enough spaciousness, and your inner voice gets drowned out by urgency.
Sign #2: You’ve gotten really good at meeting everyone else first.
If you’re a recovering perfectionist (or a chronic “I’m fine!” person), you may be practiced at overriding yourself.
You can sense a need; rest, honesty, space, comfort, and immediately negotiate it away.
And because you’re so tuned in, you can also sense what everyone else needs: you anticipate, you adjust, you keep things steady.
But when you’re always shaping yourself to the room, it gets harder to feel your own edges. Your yes, your no, your preferences, your real pace. Over time, that inner signal doesn’t vanish… it just gets quieter. And that quiet can feel exactly like disconnection.
A tiny tell: you can answer “How are you?” with a smooth sentence… “I’m good…busy” but if someone asks, “What do you need right now?” your mind goes blank.
Gentle reflection prompt: If you’re honest, where do you abandon yourself most? Work? Relationships? Your body? Share your experiences below.
Sign #3: Your coping habits are still leaving you empty.
Doom scrolling. Snacking without noticing. Falling asleep with your phone in your hand. Saying “I’ll start tomorrow.”
Again: no shame. These are strategies. They’re often the nervous system trying to downshift.
But they can also keep you disconnected from the body’s signal: hunger, fullness, fatigue, emotion, intuition. Poor sleep and poor nourishment don’t just make you tired. They make it harder to feel yourself.
Sign #4: The thing you’re avoiding is closer than you think.
This is the one that usually lands in the chest.
Sometimes disconnection is a kind of self-protection. Because if you slow down enough to actually connect… you might feel what’s been waiting underneath:
the grief you keep outrunning
the boundary you don’t want to set
the truth that would change a relationship
the longing you’ve been calling “too much”
the exhaustion you’ve been minimizing for months (or years)
If that’s you, you’re not broken. You’re human. And you’re not weak for avoiding. Your system is trying to keep you safe.
The gentle question is: If I weren’t avoiding anything… what might I feel?
Coming Back Doesn’t Have to Be a Big Spiritual Overhaul
Self-connection can be simple. Almost boring. And that’s kind of the point.
It can look like:
Journaling for five minutes. Not a perfect entry, just a messy one where you finally admit what you’re feeling.
A walk in the woods (or any patch of green) where you stop trying to “process” and just let your senses do their job.
Meditation, or yoga, or somatic work; anything that says to your body: I’m listening again.
Ecstatic dance in your kitchen, even if it’s only one song. Even if you feel awkward at first.
And sometimes the most powerful form of self-healing is doing it with other people nearby.
Not to perform. Not to overshare. Just to be in a calm room (virtual or real), with a little structure, real-time support, and the gentle permission to work at your own pace.
Because when you’re sensitive, healing doesn’t usually happen through force.
It happens through safety, presence, creativity.
Through steadiness.
Through being met, so you can finally meet yourself.
Exploring Element 9: Spiritual Growth
All of what we’ll be doing together in this Circle comes straight from Element 9: Spiritual Growth in the Nine Elements of Nourishment framework, with supportive roots in Element 1: Emotional Health, Element 2: Self-Empowerment and Element 7: Embodiment.
And I want to say this in a very un-mystical way:
Spiritual Growth isn’t a glow-up. It’s not a “fix yourself” project. It’s the slow, steady process of coming back to your inner truth, and learning how to stay with yourself when life gets loud.
That’s why the theme Plant fits so perfectly here.
Because real growth usually doesn’t feel like fireworks. It’s more like tiny, consistent returns. A plant doesn’t force its way into blooming. It responds to conditions. Light. Water. Time. Safety.
And if you’ve been living in survival mode (overworking, people-pleasing, coping your way through), of course you’ve felt disconnected. Your system has been doing what it needed to do.
So we’re not trying to “push” you into connection. We’re creating the conditions for it.
One honest check-in
One boundary that actually holds
One grounding moment where your body can unclench
One kinder question instead of self-judgment.
That’s Spiritual Growth, the Nourished Sensitive way: gentle, rooted, and built the way a plant grows: slow enough to be real.
Why We Practice This Together
A lot of sensitive people have this reflex: I should be able to figure this out privately. Like if you just read the right book, journal hard enough, meditate consistently enough, you’ll finally feel connected again.
But that’s not actually how most nervous systems work, especially sensitive ones.
We don’t just heal through insight. We heal through safety. Through co-regulation. Through being in a gentle space where you’re not being evaluated, and you’re not required to perform your growth.
That’s the heart of the Self-Alchemy Co-Working Circle inside the Nourished Sensitive Collective: self-healing that feels softer and more doable because you’re not carrying it all by yourself.
Here’s what it looks like, in a very real-life way:
We start with a short grounding practice to help you land back in your body.
We introduce the theme for the evening (simple, clear, supportive).
We do a short journaling practice to reconnect with yourself—gently, at your pace.
Then the space opens for check-ins, sharing, questions… or just listening. (Quiet presence counts.)
We close with a gentle blessing, plus an optional card pull to carry with you into the week.
You can show up tender. You can show up tired. You can show up messy or blank. You can write the whole time, or rest, or just breathe and let your system be around something calm for once.
Self-Alchemy Coworking Circle with Marina
If you’re craving a quieter inner world, gentle accountability, and a space where your sensitivity is met with steadiness (not pressure), we’d truly love to have you with us.
Self-Alchemy Coworking Circle with Marina
Date: Monday, December 15
Time: 6:30–7:45 PM
Facilitator: Marina Biggio of Cosmic Marina, LLC (www.cosmicmarina.com)
This bimonthly co-working circle inside the Nourished Sensitive Collective is a calm, grounded space for sensitive souls who want support with self-healing, without feeling like they have to do it perfectly or alone. Together, we’ll land in our bodies with grounding practices, explore emotional processing and self-compassionate inquiry, practice energetic boundaries, and make room for the clarity that comes when you finally get to slow down and listen inward.
Come as you are. You can share, or you can simply be here and breathe. Either way, you’ll leave feeling a little clearer, steadier, and more supported.
Save your seat → https://luma.com/8a40j3fv
A Note About Access
Sensitive Sanctuary Circles and TNS gathering are open to everyone.
TNSC Members attend for free as part of membership, with full access to every gathering, invitation, and community space.
Guests are warmly welcome to join any circle for $22.
First timers are welcome to join for FREE with Coupon Code: FIRSTCIRCLEFREE
If you’d like to attend regularly and the cost isn’t accessible for you right now, or you have questions about the circle, please reach out to Leah directly at leah@nourishedsensitive.com.
If you’ve been curious about our events, or want to deepen into the sanctuary we’re building together, you’re warmly invited to upgrade your membership to receive all future invitations and to help sustain this gentle, soul-centered community sanctuary.
What is Sensitive Sanctuary Circle?
Think of Sensitive Sanctuary Circle as a soft pocket of time where nothing is required of you. No fixing, no masking—just come as you are, and snuggle into belonging with your fellow sensitives and NDs.
This space is for highly sensitive and neurodivergent, deep-hearted folks who feel deeply and are learning to honor their nervous systems. We gather for presence, reflection, and gentle belonging. Tears, laughter, silence, and story are all welcome.
What We Do
We keep things simple: a grounding practice, a brief theme + journaling prompt, then open space for sharing or quiet listening. We close with a blessing and an optional card pull.
What to Expect
🌱 Camera on or off—your choice (most keep them on).
🌱 Speaking is optional—share, pass, or use the chat.
🌱 Small, intimate groups (6–12 people).
🌱 Free to move, stretch, fidget, stim, or step away.
🌱 We meet 6:15–7:30pm ET.
Comfort + Care
Cameras encouraged but never required; a quick goodbye in chat if leaving early is appreciated.
No pressure to perform or say the “right thing.”
Gentle structure: grounding → check-ins → closing blessing.
Accessibility-minded: bodies and nervous systems welcome as they are.
Confidentiality held with care; recordings only with group consent.
No prep needed—bring a journal or tea if you’d like.
If you’ve been longing for slower, more genuine connection—or simply a place where you don’t have to hold everything together—Sensitive Sanctuary Circle is for you. 🌿
For details, see the full Sensitive Sanctuary Circle – Participation Agreement
For any questions, you can reach Leah at leah@nourishedsensitive.com.
Couldn't agree more, this really captures that 'checking the boxes' feeling even when I'm on my mat, trully insightful.