The Grit Journal

When You Start Noticing the Drunk Squirrel.

Healing and growth sound beautiful when people talk about it.

They say things like inner peace and alignment and becoming your highest self.

Here’s what nobody says… Growth feels less like enlightenment and more like your brain is being run by a drunk squirrel with anxiety and a megaphone.

Picture this.

You wake up one morning and decide that Today is the day you finally get your life together.

You’ve got the plan. The journal. Intentions. Maybe even a color-coded system because apparently that’s what people with their lives together do.

And for about three hours, you feel unstoppable.

Then the drunk squirrel shows up.

You know the one. The drunk squirrel is that part of your brain that suddenly decides that instead of doing the productive thing you planned, you should:

• replay an argument from 7 years ago
• spiral about something you said yesterday
• reorganize your entire life at 11:47 PM
• question every decision you’ve ever made
• and somehow end up deep in a rabbit hole about raccoons opening trash cans on TikTok

And somewhere in the background, the squirrel is screaming:

“WE MUST FIX EVERYTHING RIGHT NOW.”

Welcome to the messy reality of doing the work.

The Part Nobody Talks About

People love talking about growth. What they don’t love talking about is the middle part. The part where you’re aware enough to see the patterns…
but not healed enough to stop them yet. Ugh, That stage is humbling.

Because suddenly you can see the moments where you’re reacting from old wounds instead of present reality. You notice when your brain jumps to defense mode. You notice when you’re protecting yourself in ways that made sense once… but don’t anymore.

It’s like watching the drunk squirrel knock over the furniture while you’re just standing in the room going,

“Wow. That’s… not helpful.”

The Shift

At first, the squirrel runs the whole house. Your reactions are automatic. Your emotions are loud. And your nervous system is basically running a 24-hour security alarm.

But eventually something changes. You start to catch the squirrel in the act. You pause halfway through your spiral. You ask yourself: “Wait, why am I acting like this?”
And that tiny moment of awareness? That’s Growth baby. Not the aesthetic version. The REAL one.

In this version you still mess up, still overthink, still get triggered… But you’re not asleep inside the pattern anymore.

Healing Doesn’t Remove the Squirrel

Here’s the part that surprised me. Healing doesn’t remove the squirrel. You don’t suddenly become a perfectly calm, enlightened human who never overreacts again. Nope. The squirrel still lives there. Healing just means it stops being the one driving the car.

Instead of hijacking your reactions every time something uncomfortable happens, you start slowing things down. You pause and breathe. You question the reaction. You’re able to separate what’s happening right now from what your brain thinks is happening because of the past. And slowly… the chaos gets quieter.

The Truth About Growth

Real growth isn’t about becoming a completely different person. It’s about becoming aware enough to choose differently. Choosing to pause instead of explode. To reflect instead of react. To ask whether the story your brain is telling you is actually true. And sometimes, you still mess it up. Sometimes the squirrel will absolutely grab the wheel and drive your emotions straight into a ditch. But, the good news is that you’ll notice faster. The even better news is the pattern loses power every time awareness shows up.

The take away

If your brain feels like a chaotic little animal running around knocking things over while you’re trying to heal… You’re not broken. You’re waking up. Because the moment you can see the drunk squirrel, is the moment it stops running your life.


Read More Posts about Healing/ Growth and the Messy truth:

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