Treading water means using all your energy to maintain position. You cannot move forward because moving would mean sinking. You cannot rest because rest means going under. You watch others swim toward goals while you barely keep your head up. This is not failure; this is what happens when you start with disadvantage and are expected to keep up with those who had help.
Living treading water means exhaustion without progress, constant effort without arrival, wondering why others have energy for dreams when you only have energy for survival.
Finding ground means acknowledging what you did not get, accepting that you need things others did not, allowing yourself to receive the support you were denied.
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Content informed by trauma research, polyvagal theory (Stephen Porges), somatic experiencing (Peter Levine), and nervous system regulation studies. For comprehensive citations and further reading, see Unfiltered Wisdom: The Book.
About the Author
Robert Greene is the author and founder of Unfiltered Wisdom, a US Navy veteran, and a trauma survivor with over 10 years of experience in nervous system regulation and somatic healing. He is certified in Yoga for Meditation from the Yogic School of Mystic Arts (Dharamsala, India, 2016) and affiliated with Holistic Veterans, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit serving veterans in Santa Cruz, California.