What Resilient People Do

05/14/25 • 16 min

Have you ever been blindsided by something so painful it split your life into a “before” and “after”? Loss, betrayal, trauma, uncertainty—whatever the moment—you’re not broken, you’re human.

In this powerful episode of the Building Resilience Podcast, Leah Davidson unpacks the core habits of resilient people—through the lens of nervous system science. Inspired by Lucy Hone’s TED Talk on grief and resilience, Leah shares how real healing happens: not by pushing through, but by tuning in to your body, building capacity, and connecting with others.

This episode will help you:

✔ Understand what your nervous system is really doing when you feel stuck

✔ Shift from survival mode into regulation

✔ Use simple tools to hold both grief and growth

✔ Learn why co-regulation and community are essential to healing

✔ Stop thinking your way out—and start healing from the inside out

Featuring practical tools like “The Safety Sequence,” you’ll walk away with insights you can apply in real time to come back to safety, connection, and wholeness.

—

Timestamps:

00:00 – If You’ve Ever Been Blindsided by Pain...

00:26 – Welcome to Episode 230: What Resilient People Do

01:29 – Inspired by Lucy Hone’s TED Talk on Resilience

02:17 – Why Resilience Lives in Your Body (Not Just Your Mind)

02:40 – Lesson 1: Resilient People Know Crap Happens

03:07 – What is Neuroception? How Your Body Scans for Danger

04:21 – Fight, Flight, Freeze & Fawn: Understanding Survival States

05:33 – These Responses Aren’t Flaws—They’re Intelligent

05:59 – Lesson 2: Resilient People Choose Where to Focus

06:49 – Equal Airtime: Holding Grief & Gratitude Together

07:45 – Bottom-Up Tools: Breath, Grounding, Journaling, Doodling

09:37 – Lesson 3: Ask “Is This Helping or Harming Me?”

10:26 – Re-Engaging the Brain: Why This Simple Question Works

11:22 – Befriending Your Nervous System: The Foundation of Healing

12:08 – What Is the Safety Sequence & How to Use It

13:02 – What Regulation Actually Looks Like in Real Life

13:25 – Lesson 5: You Don’t Have to Do It Alone

13:55 – Why Co-Regulation Is Essential for Healing

14:47 – You Can Grieve and Grow at the Same Time

15:07 – Nervous System Work Is the Path Home

Nervous System Journaling Club:

https://www.skool.com/nervous-system-journaling-club/about?ref=06e003b61b8148ebbafd3a067f3cc2e1

Get My Resilience Journal to help you learn about nervous system regulation:

📝 Resilience: A Guided Journal for Emotional Well-Being & Nervous System Care

📌 Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Mental+health+Journal&hidden-keywords=B0DNRSLV9F&ref=nb_sb_noss_1

📌 Amazon CA: https://www.amazon.ca/Mental-Journal-Anxiety-Management-Self-Care/dp/B0DNRSLV9F/ref=sr_1_1

📌 Tags:

#Resilience

#nervoussystemhealing

#traumarecovery

#polyvagaltheory

#emotionalregulation

#griefandhealing

#healingtools

#nervoussystemsupport

#BottomUpRegulation

#SafetySequence

#TraumaInformedHealing

#anxietytools

#howtoheal

#healingafterloss

#coregulation

#NervousSystemCoach

#LeahDavidson

#BuildingResiliencePodcast

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode will help you:

✔ Understand what your nervous system is really doing when you feel stuck

✔ Shift from survival mode into regulation

✔ Use simple tools to hold both grief and growth

✔ Learn why co-regulation and community are essential to healing

✔ Stop thinking your way out—and start healing from the inside out

Featuring practical tools like “The Safety Sequence,” you’ll walk away with insights you can apply in real time to come back to safety, connection, and wholeness.

—

Timestamps:

00:00 – If You’ve Ever Been Blindsided by Pain...

00:26 – Welcome to Episode 230: What Resilient People Do

01:29 – Inspired by Lucy Hone’s TED Talk on Resilience

02:17 – Why Resilience Lives in Your Body (Not Just Your Mind)

02:40 – Lesson 1: Resilient People Know Crap Happens

03:07 – What is Neuroception? How Your Body Scans for Danger

04:21 – Fight, Flight, Freeze & Fawn: Understanding Survival States

05:33 – These Responses Aren’t Flaws—They’re Intelligent

05:59 – Lesson 2: Resilient People Choose Where to Focus

06:49 – Equal Airtime: Holding Grief & Gratitude Together

07:45 – Bottom-Up Tools: Breath, Grounding, Journaling, Doodling

09:37 – Lesson 3: Ask “Is This Helping or Harming Me?”

10:26 – Re-Engaging the Brain: Why This Simple Question Works

11:22 – Befriending Your Nervous System: The Foundation of Healing

12:08 – What Is the Safety Sequence & How to Use It

13:02 – What Regulation Actually Looks Like in Real Life

13:25 – Lesson 5: You Don’t Have to Do It Alone

13:55 – Why Co-Regulation Is Essential for Healing

14:47 – You Can Grieve and Grow at the Same Time

15:07 – Nervous System Work Is the Path Home

Nervous System Journaling Club:

https://www.skool.com/nervous-system-journaling-club/about?ref=06e003b61b8148ebbafd3a067f3cc2e1

Get My Resilience Journal to help you learn about nervous system regulation:

📝 Resilience: A Guided Journal for Emotional Well-Being & Nervous System Care

📌 Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Mental+health+Journal&hidden-keywords=B0DNRSLV9F&ref=nb_sb_noss_1

📌 Amazon CA: https://www.amazon.ca/Mental-Journal-Anxiety-Management-Self-Care/dp/B0DNRSLV9F/ref=sr_1_1

📌 Tags:

#Resilience

#nervoussystemhealing

#traumarecovery

#polyvagaltheory

#emotionalregulation

#griefandhealing

#healingtools

#nervoussystemsupport

#BottomUpRegulation

#SafetySequence

#TraumaInformedHealing

#anxietytools

#howtoheal

#healingafterloss

#coregulation

#NervousSystemCoach

#LeahDavidson

#BuildingResiliencePodcast

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Previous Episode

How to Reclaim Your Power and Co-Create Your Life

Do you ever feel like life is happening to you—like you’re stuck in survival mode and just waiting for permission to live fully?

In this episode of the Building Resilience Podcast, Leah Davidson invites you to step out of fear and into your true power as a creator and co-creator of your life.

You’ll learn:

• How survival mode keeps your nervous system stuck and limits creativity

• Why belief in something bigger (whatever that means to you) can unlock deeper resilience

• The hidden costs of living in fear and waiting for proof before you act

• Practical ways to shift into creator energy using imagination, visualization, journaling, and doodling

• How regulating your nervous system first helps you lead with vision—not survival

If you’re ready to stop outsourcing your power and start creating from trust, faith, and aligned action, this episode will gently guide you back to possibility.

Remember: you were not meant to simply survive—you are here to create, co-create, and live expansively.

Nervous System Journaling Club:

https://www.skool.com/nervous-system-journaling-club/about?ref=06e003b61b8148ebbafd3a067f3cc2e1

Get My Resilience Journal to help you learn about nervous system regulation:

📝 Resilience: A Guided Journal for Emotional Well-Being & Nervous System Care

📌 Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Mental+health+Journal&hidden-keywords=B0DNRSLV9F&ref=nb_sb_noss_1

📌 Amazon CA: https://www.amazon.ca/Mental-Journal-Anxiety-Management-Self-Care/dp/B0DNRSLV9F/ref=sr_1_1

🎧 Tune in now and reconnect with the powerful creator within you.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Next Episode

Why You Sabotage The Good (And How To Stop)

Have you ever felt yourself pulling away right as things started going well? You finally feel joy, connection, or success—and suddenly you sabotage it, shut down, or spiral. You’re not broken. You’ve just hit your nervous system’s upper limit.

In this episode of the Building Resilience Podcast, Leah Davidson explores why so many of us unconsciously resist the very things we want—and how to shift that. Self-sabotage isn’t a failure of discipline—it’s a brilliant act of protection when our body doesn’t feel safe holding more.

Through nervous system science and real-life examples, Leah walks you through 10 powerful strategies to expand your capacity, calm the fear of goodness, and stop pulling back when it matters most.

This episode will help you:

✔ Understand the root of your self-sabotage (and stop blaming yourself)

✔ Rewire your nervous system to feel safe with ease, success, love, and rest

✔ Recognize the subtle ways your body says “too much”

✔ Use micro-moments and bottom-up tools to build real resilience

✔ Expand your emotional capacity without triggering collapse

This episode is for anyone who’s ready to grow—but wants to do it in a way that’s gentle, embodied, and truly sustainable.

—

⏱ Timestamps:

00:00 – Do You Sabotage the Good Stuff?

00:43 – Welcome to Episode 231: What’s Really Behind Resistance

01:12 – Sabotage Is Protection in Disguise

02:01 – The Body’s Response: “Too Fast, Too Far, Too Unfamiliar”

02:49 – The Hidden Beliefs That Keep Us From Expanding

03:48 – Why You Can’t Think Your Way Into Safety

04:30 – Resistance Isn’t a Motivation Problem—It’s a Mismatch

05:37 – Strategy 1: Get Curious With the Part That’s Afraid

06:48 – Strategy 2: Anchor Safety in Small Doses

07:55 – Strategy 3: Let Yourself Hold the Good Just a Beat Longer

08:49 – Strategy 4: Practice Safe Exposure to Joy

10:03 – Strategy 5: Expand Through Creative Expression

10:49 – Strategy 6: Use Identity Work to Reinforce Safety

11:46 – Strategy 7: Regulate Before You Strategize

13:01 – Strategy 8: Slow Down Your Intake

14:25 – Strategy 9: Stay Connected While Growing

15:14 – Strategy 10: Be Gentle With Your Nervous System

—

📝 Get my Resilience Journal to support your healing journey:

📌 Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Mental+health+Journal&hidden-keywords=B0DNRSLV9F&ref=nb_sb_noss_1

📌 Amazon CA: https://www.amazon.ca/Mental-Journal-Anxiety-Management-Self-Care/dp/B0DNRSLV9F/ref=sr_1_1

🎓 Nervous System Journaling Club:

https://www.skool.com/nervous-system-journaling-club/about?ref=06e003b61b8148ebbafd3a067f3cc2e1

—

📌 Tags:

#Resilience #NervousSystemHealing

#TraumaRecovery #PolyvagalTheory

#EmotionalRegulation #GriefAndHealing

#HealingTools #NervousSystemSupport

#BottomUpRegulation #SafetySequence

#TraumaInformedHealing #AnxietyTools

#HowToHeal #HealingAfterLoss

#CoRegulation #NervousSystemCoach

#LeahDavidson #BuildingResiliencePodcast

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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