Niraj Naik argues that modern culture pushes emotional numbness in the name of regulation. He introduces "calming up": achieving a relaxed nervous system and lower stress while keeping your emotional intensity and authentic expression intact, not trading one for the other.
Chapters
Have you noticed they just want us to be numb? There's even a song about it, Comfortably Numb. Look at a lot of homes these days, just all the same color. Look how people dress in places like Europe, pretty much identical to each other. Black, white, that's it. And what do they want us to do? Calm down, relax, chill. Stop being your full expressive selves. Now look, I'm the first one to say calming down is good, especially when you're stressed, when you're on the verge of burnout. Like, yes, bring down that nervous system. But what if you can have amazing HRV scores, have phenomenal control over your vagus nerve and your nervous system? But instead of calming down, I propose calming up. And what that means is where I'm feeling relaxed, and your best self, but at the same time, you're full of life, emotion, expression, color. That's right, vibrancy.