Ditch the Habits That Numb You Out

[00:00:00] Hello dear ones. Today we’re talking about ditching the habits that numb you out, and we numb out for one reason and one reason only. We want to avoid experiencing a painful emotion. Now, if you’re in the midst of a trauma, then yes, you may need a numbing agent.

[00:00:26] So this episode is not to say all numbing agents are bad all the time. They aren’t. Sometimes we need them to cope and survive. What I’m talking about here is when we use numbing agents as a crutch on the day-to-day to deal with our day-to-day stresses, anxieties, and also when we’re past the trauma and on the other side of the trauma, but the trauma is being held inside and we don’t wanna deal with it because it’s painful.

[00:01:01] And that is totally understandable. Experiencing pain is not fun. However, if you keep that pain stuffed down inside you for too long . You know, there’s a, eventually, if you will, a timer on that. You can only do it for so long until you get very physically ill before a situation appears in your experience that forces you to confront that pain.

[00:01:35] Remember, we can only store trauma and pain in our energy system for so long, and then something will happen in our physical body or in our outer reality to force us to confront the pain. So what we wanna do instead is release it. Healthfully as it arises, and it’s very difficult to do that if we are overly reliant on numbing agents to numb us out so that we don’t feel this pain bubbling to our conscious awareness bubbling to the surface.

[00:02:17] So. This is what we’re gonna be talking about in two days. Super important and timely episode. There’s so much crap in the news right now, so much fear rattling the collective. And so now more than ever, people are going to go to numbing agents. And really it’s the time to start ditching those numbing agents.

[00:02:41] And before we get into any of that, I would love to share with you a listener review. And this comes from the Dear, dear sl I know this, this reviewer well, and she’s a dear person in my life and I always say her name wrong. So if you’re listening to this, I apologize in advance. I even Googled how to say this name right?

[00:03:01] It’s not even that hard. I’m a linguist, Cielo SSL Cielo. I think I got it there. And she says, Allison is a true healer. Allison offers the world so much through her podcast and coaching business. If you wanna stop pushing and forcing and align yourself to your intuitive nature and inner joy. Allison is your guide.

[00:03:28] Thank you so much. She will help you tune into your next step. And figure out what’s best for you on every level. Thank you for all that you give to the world. Ah, thank you so much. S Cielo, I got it Now. You are a dear person in my life and I’m so grateful that we are connected. And dear listener, I’m so grateful for you.

[00:03:53] You time. Jump to this present moment when I’m recording every time your energy does. To hold the space for me. Thank you for that. And if you feel so inspired, I’d be so grateful for also a listener review from you. Head over to wherever it is you listen, hit subscribe. Leave me a rating and review, and I will read your inspired words on the air, getting back to habits that numb us out. In today’s episode, I reveal the most common numbing agents, and some of these are very sneaky. Why it’s so important. To ditch the habits that numb us out, and I share my story of ditching my number one number.

[00:04:34] We’ll end on an invitation that will have you ditching these habits for good, so you can release the energy blocks weighing you down, not serving you anymore, and find your optimal energetic alignment so you can start receiving the joy and abundance that’s ready to arrive.

[00:04:52] So please stay with me until the end. Hey ho. We’re creating a global community of soul guided leaders, coaches, healers, and entrepreneurs called the Soul Guide Circle. In the Soul Guide circle, , we’re inviting in our spiritual gifts to get our clients even more results and transformation and create big referral buzz. Find a link to join our close Facebook group@allisonscamel.com or in the show notes. Today we’re talking about ditching the things that numb us out and don’t serve us anymore.

[00:05:57] Again, I wanna say if you are in the middle of the trauma right now. And you are on medication or you are on something consuming something to help you manage the intensity of your emotions. This is a time to, you know, if you can also go to a counselor or a therapist and they will be a good counselor or therapist, or energy healer will be able to guide you as to.

[00:06:24] The best way to manage your big emotions that are the healthiest way. So if you’re going through a big trauma all by yourself right now, I really invite you to reach out for help. And if you’re in a position where you can’t afford a therapist or a coach, can you go to a friend?

[00:06:45] Can you reach out to someone to help you process these big emotions If you’re not in the middle of it right now, but life just feels heavy and you get riddled with fear every time you open the news headlines and you feel fear and anxiety about the future, and you find yourself. Reaching for things that you know intuitively do not serve you, but they help to calm well, you, we think this is why numbing agents are so not in service to us.

[00:07:22] They enable us to think that our nerves are being calmed, but it’s actually not. What’s happening is these agents are just numbing out your ability to feel. The emotions that are present and nothing is more important on our path to healing than being aware of the emotions that are present ‘ cause nothing tells the truth more powerfully than our emotions.

[00:07:53] Our thoughts can tell us all sorts of lies and non-truths, but our emotions always tell the truth. So if you think you should be happy, but you are feeling anxiety, the anxiety is the truth. Even though you might have a nice house and you know, roof over your head and food in the refrigerator, so you should be happy, but you feel anxiety.

[00:08:18] The truth is anxiety.

[00:08:20] So the most common numbing agents are alcohol drugs. Medications, mood stabilizing medications. Now, if you’re on mood stabilizing medications as prescribed by your doctor, then this is not an episode telling you to get off of those. But it is an episode to say, check in with your higher self. Is your higher self saying that this medication is something I need right now?

[00:08:50] If the answer is yes, then yes. If your higher self is saying something wants to shift. Then there’s some exploration for you.

[00:08:59] Other numbing agents are sugary foods, junk foods, just overeating in general. Definitely social media, screen time, Netflix, uh, scrolling socials and this I think can be very sneaky. I. Because we can think it’s good for us, but it’s actually a numbing agent, and that’s keeping ourselves overly busy with busy work.

[00:09:26] Oh, I’m gonna organize that drawer. Oh, I’m gonna clean out that closet. Oh, I’m gonna, I get my taxes ready, for next year, but they’re not due for six more months. You know these types of busy work that yes, it’s nice to organize drawers and get things in order, but are you doing it to be orderly or are you doing it to distract yourself from your feelings?

[00:09:52] And again, I wanna, I’m gonna give you lots of disclaimers in this episode here. I’m not saying scrolling social feeds is bad, or watching Netflix is bad. I love to unwind to a cozy show in the evening with my husband or with my daughter. But are you overly reliant on these things to numb out or distract yourself from painful emotions inside that you just don’t feel like dealing with?

[00:10:20] And I get it. I understand. So this is an episode of empathy and compassion. It’s not a beat ourselves up episode. It’s an episode to invite you to take stock. Is there anything in my life that is numbing me out in a way that’s not serving me, and I’m ready to release this habit, this dependency.

[00:10:48] And the reason why it’s so important is because if there is a blocked energy coming to your surface, coming from within, so that means that you have some stored trauma inside your energy system. It could be from a past lifetime, it could be from your ancestry. It could be from the current lifetime.

[00:11:09] Usually current lifetime trauma feels the strongest. And that’s usually when you may wanna hire a counselor or a healer to help you process. But let me tell you, past lifetime and ancestral trauma can also be extremely intense. So this blocked energy is coming to the surface, and that means it’s getting your attention, using your emotional compass, your emotional compass gives you the breadcrumbs of when you are in alignment or when something is ready to be released and healed. So that means if you’re feeling a painful emotion, that’s your breadcrumb, you’re trigger, you’re warning that there’s blocked energy. It’s reached the surface of your conscious awareness so that you can feel it.

[00:11:59] It’s ready to be released. It’s no longer serves you. So that’s why it’s so important not to numb that out. This is our body’s natural communication process to say, you’re out of alignment. You are feeling pain, powerlessness, shame, guilt, anger, stress, sadness, and this blocked energy inside of you is ready to be released.

[00:12:23] And this is how we heal energetically, and this is the way to find our alignment. Our blocks take us out of energetic alignment, so when we numb ourselves out, we’re taking away our number one warning system communicator to let us know when something is no longer serving us and it’s ready to be healed.

[00:12:47] That’s the gift of experiencing pain, emotional pain. Whatever it is, is ready to be released. If it wasn’t ready, it would be tucked down deeper into your energy system to be healed another day. Because like everything in life that is subject to divine timing, so is our healing. Our healing is also subject to divine timing.

[00:13:14] Sometimes we’re just not ready to heal a certain aspect of one of our wounds, but when we feel the pain, that means the divine time has arrived for the pain to heal. And the numbing agents will take us away from the divine timing, and then it’ll cause this blocked energy to grow bigger and bigger inside.

[00:13:37] And that usually means we have to numb more and more and more not to feel it. And then eventually when you get too much blocked energy inside, you get sick, you get a physical ailment, you get into an accident, you inadvertently manifest something in your outer reality. That triggers all that blocked energy.

[00:13:58] ’cause remember. We attract all the things into our experience that’s an energetic match to our energy of the moment. So if your energy of the moment is filled with sadness, fear, stress, anxiety, that’s what you’re vibrating at. But maybe you’re consuming a lot of alcohol, which is enabling you not to feel that pain, but you’re still vibrating at those frequencies.

[00:14:26] You’re gonna start attracting things into your experience that reflect fear, anger, sadness, anxiety. That’s why it’s so important to do an inventory, and this episode is about empowering you. Okay? This is not a beat you up episode.

[00:14:43] Please know that I am wanting to empower you to take charge of your energetic hygiene and health and alignment and say, I’m doing this. And we wanna start with the number one thing. Let’s feed the elephant one bite at a time. Maybe you rely on several different numbing agents. Let’s start with one thing.

[00:15:04] The number one thing that you just know. It doesn’t serve you on the day to day, and you’re ready to give it up. And before I share my top tips on how to do that, I would love to share my story of ditching my number one number. Which absolutely has been through the years. Alcohol, you know, I’m a farm girl from the upper Midwest.

[00:15:26] I’d never really drank alcohol till college, but then I got to college and yeah, I had the typical college experience from that perspective where I went out on the weekends, I drank, I drank too much often. , And then, you know, I went into. A career in international affairs, and it seems to be, I, I don’t know why that profession really attracts hardcore drinkers and I don’t know.

[00:15:58] I think you’re traveling, you’re away from family, you’re in intense situations, and the way that people unwind from those situations is they get together in the evenings and drink. And it’s just something I’ve noticed throughout the years, many, many years working in diplomatic circles, humanitarian affairs circles, people who have jobs in the international affair career field tend to be, and certainly not everybody, but it tends to attract the drinking crowd.

[00:16:27] So I fell into that line of work and those drinking crowds, and I drank a lot. Then in 2003, I went to Iraq as a humanitarian aid worker, and when I was there I was, you know, living inside of a compound. It was extremely dangerous. This was, you know, 2003, 2004. It was an active war zone. I had zero training because back then they weren’t really prepared for civilians.

[00:17:00] In war zones. And so they didn’t have very much to prepare us. I was unprepared, unarmed, and basically a sitting duck is how I felt. And we were getting, something called indirect fire almost every night. So, what that means is they were firing rockets and mortars into the compound. You know, they Iraqis and, we were invaders of their country, right?

[00:17:30] And they were trying to, , get these invaders out. So I totally understand, like, why was I getting bombed? And I would sometimes sit there and think, as the bombs were raining down on me, I would think about the bombers as little boys, and I, . I felt so much empathy for them, and I would think to myself, why are we doing this to each other?

[00:17:55] You know, why are we doing this? And I had this real feeling of like, I shouldn’t be here. I should not be in this place. I’m not welcome here. Clearly they’re bombing me, but yet I’m here ostensibly to provide humanitarian assistance. But most of the people of that country didn’t want me there. So it was a very strange place to be in.

[00:18:22] Which is why I ultimately left that career is because I usually felt, and this is my experience, so I know that there are some others who have a career in, , international development, humanitarian response, and. You might have a very different experience than me and I honor that. My experience was that wherever I went, I had that feeling that I was more part of the problem than the solution.

[00:18:52] I think I was partly part of the solution and some of the stuff I was working on was doing good things on a tactical level. So I could say, you know, this project here, and those people there are better off. But I always felt strategically in the long term, I was more part of the problem than the solution.

[00:19:14] Anyway, that’s a bit of a digression. So we were getting bombed by mortars and rockets every night. Now these, , type of weapons are not very accurate. They just sort of get lobbed in and they blow up. But let me tell you, the chances of one falling on me were relatively small, but let me tell you, it was a psychological mind bleep.

[00:19:38] Like really? So I endured that for six to eight months, and then I came back to the United States after my assignment was over. And again, at that time in the US government, they didn’t have anything to help civilians coming back from a war zone to support with the psychological effects of it.

[00:20:04] So I’m sure I had PTSD when I came back. I would wake up in the middle of the night with terrible nightmares. I wasn’t sleeping , and I was drinking a lot to cope with the anxiety that I was feeling. I remember one morning, it was like a Monday morning, eight o’clock in the morning, I was at work and I was still a little buzzed from the night before, and so that was.

[00:20:34] Me really using alcohol to cope with the big emotions that I was feeling inside. And I didn’t know anything about emotional management back then. And at that time, this is kind of crazy, had I gone to see a counselor and I reported that. When it was time to update my security clearance, I could have gotten my security clearance taken away because at that time, seeing a counselor indicated that there might be something psychologically wrong with you so that you couldn’t sustain a security clearance, and that means you couldn’t keep your job if your job required a security clearance.

[00:21:13] That is just crazy now because there were so many people returning from Iraq and Afghanistan who had. Deep emotional, needs and needed counseling. They changed that rule, thank God. , And then they started to little by little create support for civilians coming back from war zones., But I was in a bad situation and I think that that really, upleveled my.

[00:21:42] Associating alcohol was something that could numb me out when I was going through a hard time. So I ki kind of got through that PTSD thing and I, I did feel like I eventually processed most of it and today I’ve processed all of it. But then, you know, I got into some relationship challenges. You know, life continues, right?

[00:22:03] I started to really hate my career and I really wanted something else. I had. , A situation where I had a toxic boss. Then as you, as most of you know, if you’ve been with me for a while, I had a near death experience in 2009, and that kind of put me on this new path of spirituality.

[00:22:23] And for a long time after my near death experience, I wasn’t drinking any alcohol. I wasn’t even drinking any coffee or caffeine. But then , I decided to take another post in Afghanistan and I was back in a war zone, back in that sort of intense environment. And then I started drinking again, not nearly as much, but I started to drink again to manage the stress.

[00:22:50] And then when I got back from Afghanistan, it was just in that routine of using alcohol to unwind, using alcohol, to manage stress. And little by little I started to drink less and less, but then at a certain point I was just like. Wanting to give it up completely, but at that point it was like psychological, like I felt like I needed it.

[00:23:14] If I was going to meet friends out, I was worried that my friends who liked to drink wine, I would disappoint them if I wasn’t drinking wine with them. And at a certain point, although it wasn’t such a crutch in the sense that I wasn’t drinking that much. But I really struggled to give it up for good.

[00:23:35] I had a psychological dependency on being able to have a glass of wine from time to time.

[00:23:43] So thankfully, I wanna thank my physical body. Alcohol started to really disrupt my sleep even after just one drink, and I think it was my body helping me to kick this habit for good and the psychological dependency I had, and that really helped me to say it right. You know, I tried and, and then also, I wanna say at that point, I tried so many things, like I only drink alcohol on the weekends.

[00:24:13] I only drink alcohol on vacation. I only drink alcohol. La, la, la, la, la. And that just also wasn’t working. I knew I had to give it up for good.

[00:24:23] So here’s the process I went through to ditch alcohol for good, and these are the tips that I share for you to help you ditch something that you know is no longer serving you, that you’re ready to let go of number one. I recognized it for the problem. It was, even though I was at a time of my life where I was only having a glass of wine here and there, I just knew it wasn’t serving me.

[00:24:47] It was still numbing me out. I was still using it as a crutch to numb out from time to time. And it was a problem and I had to give it up for good. Okay. That’s always the biggest one, just the awareness. Number two, I got a placebo. I. So that means I got started to invest in all of this non-alcoholic beer, non-alcoholic, other types of drinks.

[00:25:17] , I learned how to make mocktails , and up until that point, I never drank soda, but I started to drink Coke Zero. ’cause I really liked the taste of Coke Zero and it didn’t have calories in it, but I know that it’s not healthy for me. But I replaced alcohol for a while also, with all of those things in Coke Zero.

[00:25:38] And that would really help me. When I was out at a restaurant or you know, out in the world and I wanted something that felt like a glass of wine and I would get a mocktail or a Coke Zero or non-alcoholic beer. Then with my friends who liked me drinking wine and liked to drink wine with me, I just let them know I am giving up alcohol because it’s messing with my sleep.

[00:26:04] I just told them. I’m giving it up. Here’s why you shouldn’t need to do that. You shouldn’t need to explain yourself. If you wanna live healthy, that’s wonderful. However, I’ve found, you know, people and then you know, especially with alcohol and if it’s people you drink with and they’re used to you drinking, they want you drinking.

[00:26:25] So just tell them I don’t drink alcohol anymore because it is really messing my sleep and there’s nothing anyone can say to that. You know, that’s not No, no. Drink wine anyway and be up all night. No, no, no. So let your friends know. Let your spouse know your loved ones. I am giving this thing up because, and if you need to ask them for their support, can you support me?

[00:26:51] This is gonna be a little bit challenging for me. Can you support me?

[00:26:55] Next, give yourself grace. Give yourself time. When I set the intention to give up alcohol for good, I failed many times. Many times. And I was just like, oh, it’s a beautiful sunset. We’re at a terrace. Oh, it’s so lovely. I’ll just have a glass of rose wine. Oh, we’re on vacation now. It’s so nice. I love to have a, a glass of wine with my sister.

[00:27:21] Okay. I’ll just drink. I failed in my intention to give up alcohol many, many times. And it’s okay. Give yourself grace. Wake up the next morning, reset your intention. Notice what led to you having that weak moment or whatever without judgment, just feedback and see how you can set yourself up for success for the next time.

[00:27:50] And lastly, which is another thing I did for myself is I gave myself a long time. It took me two entire years to give up alcohol to a point where today I’m totally free. I have no desire for alcohol, and I know if I had a glass of it, it would make my body kind of sick, but it took two years. Of me having occasional urges, me needing that placebo, like the Coke Zero.

[00:28:23] But now I don’t even drink Coke Zero anymore. I don’t drink non-alcoholic beer. I don’t need anything that even seems like alcohol. I don’t need anything. I drink coffee, tea, kombucha. , Sparkling water. That’s about it. That’s all I need. I don’t, I don’t need a specialty drink, okay? From time to time, if I’m out on date night with my husband, I’ll get a mocktail, but that’s about it.

[00:28:48] I, I don’t have that need to have something that’s like a glass of wine, but it took me two whole years to get there. And I’m so glad I’m here. It’s so liberating. And a lot of these numbers, they really drag us down energetically. Alcohol is a depressant. A lot of recreational drugs are depressants. They bring us down energetically.

[00:29:17] They weigh us down. And then beyond that, they prevent us from healing our trauma blocks. So then we get even more. Weighed down energetically. So my invitation for you this week is do an inventory and identify the number one number that you might have going on in your life today. And can you start to.

[00:29:43] Number one, identify it for what it is. This thing no longer serves me. Can you find a placebo? Can you replace it with something else? That is a bit of it, a bit more high vibrational and serves you more. Can you give yourself a lot of compassion on your journey? But can you commit with me today to eventually.

[00:30:06] Being on the path to ditching this thing for good so you can find your optimal energetic alignment, which shall set you free. Alright, my dear ones, that’s a wrap for this week. If you like this episode, head on over to wherever it is you Listen, give us a love, give us a subscribe. I’d love a rating and review.

[00:30:29] I will read your words on the air. And as always, until next time, may your soul guide the way.

[00:30:38] 

00:00 Introduction

01:10 The Impact of Numbing Agents on Our Health

02:25 Current Events and the Rise of Numbing Agents

02:42 Listener Review and Community Engagement

04:19 Identifying Common Numbing Agents

07:37 The Importance of Emotional Awareness

15:20 Personal Story: Overcoming Alcohol Dependency

24:28 Steps to Ditch Numbing Habits

29:39 Invitation