Compass Point Success Coaching

02/09/2026

02/09/2026

02/09/2026

Matt 🫶
Your nervous system needs the cocoon stage. Not because you're broken, but because you're recovering.
There's a phase in healing where you need to withdraw. Where socializing feels impossible. Where going out sounds exhausting. Where you just want to be alone, in your own space, with minimal stimulation. And people don't understand it. They think you're isolating, giving up, or being antisocial.

But you're not breaking down. You're cocooning. Your nervous system is rebuilding itself after years of operating in survival mode, and that requires rest. Deep, intentional, protective rest. The kind where you're not performing for anyone, not managing anyone's emotions, not forcing yourself to be "on" when everything in you is screaming to power down.

Not because you're broken, but because you're recovering. Like a caterpillar in a cocoon, you're not dying. You're transforming. And transformation requires a protected space where the outside world can't demand anything from you. Where you can fall apart safely and put yourself back together differently.

People who've never needed this phase won't get it. They'll pressure you to "get back out there" before you're ready. But your nervous system knows what it needs. And right now, it needs stillness. It needs safety. It needs the cocoon. Honor that. You're not stuck. You're metamorphosing.

** Me being me had to research this a bit. While I have absolutely experienced this myself I was not fully aware that this can be a common experience.**

Common clinical frameworks this overlaps with:
• Nervous system down-regulation / parasympathetic dominance
• Post-processing integration phase
• Autonomic nervous system recovery after chronic hyperarousal
• Window of tolerance recalibration
• Polyvagal “dorsal vagal rest” when it’s not collapse but repair

01/17/2026

nami.org

01/17/2026

How do you nurture your mental health? 🧠✨💙

01/17/2026

12/19/2025

Belonging is not something you earn by becoming smaller or quieter. It is not built through approval, performance, or bending yourself to fit spaces that never felt safe to begin with. True belonging feels like exhale, not effort.

When you are in the right rooms, your presence does not need to be explained. You are not questioned, corrected, or diminished. You are allowed to be fully yourself without apology.

You do not have to shrink to belong. You were meant to be received as you are.