The Real Work with Maggie Sterling

Get my nervous system sensitization course

Take the nervous system sensitization quiz

If your nervous system is sensitized, the things you instinctively want to do are probably making it worse.In this video, I'm sharing 5 things I would stop doing immediately if I were in the thick of sensitization — and I know because I did all of them for years. This is stabilization work. The goal isn't optimization — it's to stop making things worse so your system can do what it already knows how to do.

Get my nervous system sensitization course

Take the nervous system sensitization quiz Your exhaustion isn't laziness—it's your nervous system running survival operations 24/7. In this video, I explain the two hidden energy drains keeping you depleted and why the beginning of healing feels the hardest (even though it gets easier). For years, I believed I was just a low-energy person. I needed 2-3 hour naps every day and could barely make it to dinner without collapsing. I thought something was fundamentally wrong with me. But the real problem wasn't my energy—it was where that energy was going.

Get my nervous system sensitization course

Take the nervous system sensitization quiz

You didn't develop chronic anxiety from one traumatic event. You got stuck in a sensitization loop—where your nervous system learned to stay vigilant even when the threat was gone. In this episode, I break down what sensitization actually is, how it happens gradually (not dramatically), and why understanding this changes everything about how you heal. This isn't about finding the "root cause" or reliving your past. It's about seeing how your nervous system learned this pattern—and why acceptance, not fixing, is what helps you get unstuck.

In this episode, Dr. Brad Fanestil—a medical doctor with 30 years of experience—explains how chronic pain and anxiety can actually be healed, not just managed. If you've been told you just need to "learn to live with it," this conversation will challenge everything you thought you knew about healing. About Dr. Brad Fanestil Dr. Brad Fanestil is a board-certified Internal Medicine doctor with 30 years of primary care and hospital experience. Throughout his career he saw patients come into his exam room and into his hospital with problems that didn't always respond to medications and procedures. 'In 2018 he started reading about the new neuroscience and discovered that anxiety, chronic pain and many other hard-to-treat medical conditions are nothing more than learned behaviors in the nervous system - habit loops in the neural circuitry of the brain.' Most of his patients have seen dozens of doctors and other healthcare practitioners without relief. Now, using the tools of Mind Body Medicine, Dr. Fanestil offers online and in-person classes to teach people how to rewire the neural circuitry of anxiety and chronic pain. Connect with Dr. Brad Fanestil: https://www.bouldermindbodymedicine.com YouTube - ‪ @Dr.Fanestil ‬ TEDx Talk: https://youtu.be/Nv-Ol3l4QX4?si=ljn_bXPN2Cer14kJ

Most nervous system advice is missing something critical — and it kept me stuck for years.

If you've tried everything (the breathing exercises, the tapping, the vagus nerve resets, the meditation) and nothing seems to work… you're not broken. You might just be using the wrong tools for where your system actually is.

In this episode, I'm breaking down the difference between a dysregulated nervous system and a sensitized nervous system — and why that distinction changes everything about how you heal.

Take the quiz to find out if your nervous system is sensitized or dysregulated

Get my nervous system sensitization course

Get my nervous system sensitization course

You're doing all the "right" things — the breathing exercises, the meditation apps, the journaling — and you're still anxious. Still wired. Still can't relax. Here's the thing: some of the habits you think are helping are actually keeping your nervous system stuck in survival mode. In this video, I'm sharing 3 things to stop doing if you actually want to feel calm. These aren't obvious mistakes. They're the subtle patterns that keep you in the loop of trying to fix yourself — which is the exact energy that keeps your nervous system on high alert. If you've tried everything and nothing seems to work, this might be why.

Get my nervous system sensitization course

You've heard that acceptance is the key to healing. But when you try to "accept" your symptoms, nothing changes. That's because acceptance isn't something you do—it's what happens when you stop doing. In this episode, I'm breaking down what acceptance actually looks like in practice (hint: it's not saying affirmations or trying to feel calm). I'll share why your "fix it" energy is keeping you stuck, what to remove before you add anything new, and how to know if you're actually accepting or just using acceptance as another tool. Hw If you've been asking "but HOW do I accept this?"—this one's for you.

Get my nervous system sensitization course

I used to have one anxious thought hijack my entire day. Now it passes in about 7 seconds. In this episode, I'm sharing the shift that made this possible—and it's not a breathing technique or a hack. It's understanding the difference between being "anxiety free" and being "free from anxiety." One keeps you stuck. The other is where the suffering actually drops. I'll tell you about a moment I had recently while sick—a scary thought popped up about post-viral symptoms—and what I did differently this time that let it pass in seconds instead of spiraling for hours. If you've been doing all the things and still feel trapped by anxious thoughts, this one's for you.

Get my nervous system sensitization course

For years, I was doing everything therapy told me to do… and somehow, I was still getting worse. More panic. More symptoms. More fear. More confusion.

It didn't make sense. Until it finally did.

In this episode, I'm sharing the part of healing that talk therapy never explained — the piece I didn't even know I was missing. If you've been in therapy, doing the work, trying your best… but nothing is changing, this conversation is going to make something click.

Feeling lazy, exhausted, and overstimulated? You're not lazy—your nervous system is maxed out. Learn why you're tired all the time even when you "haven't done anything" and how to rebuild capacity.

If you've been calling yourself lazy because you can't seem to make yourself do anything, this episode is for you.

What looks like laziness is often a nervous system that's been running at 12 out of 10 for years—maybe decades. Your body is burning massive energy internally through hypervigilance, worry loops, and constant stimulation... even when you're not "doing" anything visible.

In this episode, I talk about:

• Why laziness is almost never the real problem
• The difference between functional freeze and full freeze
• How overstimulation drains you without you realizing it
• Why your exhaustion isn't about today—it's cumulative
• What's actually happening when you "know what to do but can't do it"

This isn't a productivity problem. It's not a willpower problem. It's an overload problem.

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