What Makes Big Decisions Feel Possible?

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what it really takes to make a big decision, especially one that feels like a risk. Whether it’s changing careers, leaving a relationship, or moving to a new city, those moments often come with a sense of fear or overwhelm. And what I’ve come to see is that the ability to take risks isn’t just a mindset thing. It’s also deeply physical.

For most of my life, I lived with severe anxiety. It showed up daily—sometimes as a knot in my solar plexus, other times as an all-over hum of tension I couldn’t shake. For years at a time, the sensations were constant, from the moment I woke up to the moment I went to bed.

Looking back, I realize how much that state of anxiety shaped my life choices. I wouldn’t have had the language for it then, but now I understand: my nervous system was dysregulated. Maybe it was genetic. Maybe it came from early trauma. Probably both. But I was living in a near-constant state of fight or flight.

And it’s really hard to take a big leap when your body already feels like it’s dangling over a cliff.

Big decisions can stir up feelings of uncertainty, hope, fear, and excitement. And all of that becomes harder to navigate when your baseline is already high-stress. Without realizing it, I often avoided change. Not because I didn’t want something different or better, but because my body couldn’t handle the added strain. It felt like I was already driving 60 mph internally, and trying to “rev the engine” any further just wasn’t possible.

But something has shifted for me in recent years.

I feel incredibly grateful to have found a new baseline. That shift came through many things: working with a naturopath who uncovered some underlying physical needs, starting medication that helped bring things into balance, and committing to a range of practices that support my nervous system. As my body has calmed, my life has opened up. I’ve taken bigger risks in the last few years than ever before, and I’ve grown more than I ever imagined.

Now, instead of feeling like I’m constantly at full speed, my nervous system hums more like a steady 25 mph. Taking a risk still requires extra energy, but it no longer feels like I’m pushing myself past my limit.

One of the most transformative pieces of this journey has been my work with Tension & Trauma Releasing Exercises (TRE®)—a somatic practice that helps the body release deep patterns of stress and trauma through gentle, neurogenic tremors. I’ve been training in TRE for the past nine months, and it’s been deeply healing for me. I hope to share it more widely in the future.

So far, this work has lived separately from my career coaching practice. But in many of my coaching sessions, I sit across from clients who either tell me directly—or I sense it quietly—that they, too, live with a high baseline of anxiety. And when they finally arrive at a decision, I often feel the weight of how hard-won that clarity was. Not because they lacked insight or motivation, but because making big decisions from a dysregulated state is just… really hard.

I don’t know yet exactly how my somatic work and coaching will come together. But I imagine a future where they do. A future where I can support people not just in figuring out what they want, but also in calming their bodies enough to actually go after it. Because when our nervous systems are supported, the world feels safer and change actually feels possible.

If you are considering a small shift or a big leap, you don’t have to figure it out alone. I’d love to help! Schedule a complimentary Discovery Call with me here.