Running from Reality: When Disconnection Becomes Survival
So many of us spend years running from our own reality.
We stay busy. We scroll. We work. We help others. We overthink, overgive, overperform.
We find subtle ways to numb the ache we don’t want to feel.
We distract ourselves with relationships, achievements, constant productivity, or the illusion of control - anything to not face the silence where truth lives.
Because truth, at first, hurts.
It confronts us with grief, unmet needs, loneliness, fear, or guilt.
And when we don’t yet feel safe to face those feelings, we run.
Running from reality is not weakness. It’s a survival mechanism.
At some point in life, disconnecting was the only way we knew how to stay functional.
It was our nervous system saying, “This is too much for me right now.”
So we learned to live in our minds, in busyness, in “doing,” instead of being present with what’s inside.
But the cost of running is that we become strangers to ourselves.
We start living half-alive - managing, coping, existing - instead of truly feeling, choosing, and creating.
Reality doesn’t go away just because we avoid it. It waits patiently, whispering through our anxiety, our emptiness, our constant restlessness.
Healing begins the moment we stop running.
When we finally pause long enough to notice what we’ve been avoiding.
When we allow ourselves to ask:
– What am I afraid to feel?
– What truth am I trying not to see?
– What would happen if I stopped escaping and started listening?
This is where awareness meets compassion.
Because we don’t face reality to punish ourselves - we face it to set ourselves free.
Every time you choose to sit with discomfort instead of escaping it, you reclaim a piece of your wholeness.
Slowly, reality stops being the enemy.
It becomes your guide - leading you back home to yourself.
May you find the courage to pause instead of run.
May you meet your truth with tenderness instead of fear.
May you remember that facing what’s real is not breaking - it’s beginning.
🤍 If you’re ready to stop running and begin meeting your truth with compassion, therapy can be that safe space - a place where you no longer have to face it all alone.
Together, we can make space for what’s real, so your healing can begin to unfold gently and safely, at your own pace.
With presence and care,
Aniela🤍
www.MindfulTherapist.us
🤍 Sessions online.
🤍 Office: THE BOX, 425 Boardman Ave, Traverse city, MI
“The place where people bloom.”
Photo: Pinterest
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