Disassociation On Purpose

Why Stepping Away from the Noise Makes You Better at Learning, Teaching, and Treating Pain

I’ve felt the anxiety rising, and I’ve checked out more than I’d like. I don’t want to watch all the news. It’s embedded into my feed and algorithm anyway, unavoidable unless I avoid my phone entirely. I want to stay informed, but I can’t absorb the emotional weight of everything happening in the world every. Single. Day.

And here’s the catch: I can’t just disappear. Posts still have to post. I still have to show up online and in the inbox, say something coherent, and engage. Owning a massage business and a CE company that supports an instructor team and practitioners across the country means staying visible, responsive, and relevant. It means being “present” on the internet even when the internet is the last place you want to be.

If any of this feels familiar, what helped me was finding my center again and then building spaces where others could do the same. Maybe my nerdy process, using work, study, and structure as stabilizing resources, can help you too.

Stepping away from the noise for periods of focus isn’t disengagement. I’m engaged where it matters to me personally, but that isn’t what this article is about. This is about how I stay focused and keep my nervous system regulated for the sake of my work with the Center for Barefoot Massage, especially when overwhelm hits and I’d honestly rather check out and lose myself in something, anything.

What came next was learning how to use intentional disassociation as a tool rather than an escape, and how that choice reshaped my work, my teaching, and the spaces I build for others.

The rest of this article unpacks what that looked like in practice, written especially for our paid subscribers