Grief gets labelled as sadness. People assume it’s a temporary emotional state, one you move through in tidy stages, maybe cry a little, talk it through, and eventually come out the other side. But for many, grief doesn’t look like tears. It looks like fog. It looks like flatness, disconnection, fatigue that no amount of sleep touches. It can show up days, weeks, or even months after something ends, a relationship, a role, a routine, or a version of who you used to be.

This isn’t just emotion. It’s regulation. Your nervous system takes a hit, and it goes into survival mode. That’s why you can’t focus, why you don’t feel like yourself, why everything feels harder. Not because you’re weak, but because your internal structure has changed. The body isn’t failing. It’s trying to keep you safe.

This is what I’ve written about in my latest blog, not the five stages of grief, not the textbook version, but the lived, real one. The one where everything feels slightly off. Where people tell you to move on, but your system hasn’t caught up. Where your energy, mood, and motivation disappear, and nothing feels quite right. That version deserves space too.

Most people don’t realise that grief is a full-body experience. It affects how we think, how we feel, how we sleep, and how we connect. It pulls the brakes until the system feels safe again. And often, people mistake that pause for a problem. They think they’re stuck. But it’s not a failure to move on, it’s your system recalibrating.

The article breaks down what’s actually going on beneath the surface. It’s not a long read, but it will likely change the way you see your own responses. It’s written in plain language, trauma-informed, grounded in nervous system science, and relevant to anyone who’s felt “off” without knowing why. Even if you’re not grieving a person, you might be grieving a shift in identity, a major life change, or something that once felt safe but is now gone. That still counts. The body still responds.

I work with people who want to understand themselves better and make real, lasting change. That doesn’t mean fixing anything. It means recognising what’s already happening, and working with it instead of against it. Sometimes healing starts with a conversation that says, “This makes sense.”

If any of this lands with you, the full article is available on my site. It’s called Grief Isn’t an Emotion — It’s a Full-Body Reboot. It’s not about advice or quick fixes. It’s about being seen in a way that helps everything make more sense.

If this article stirred something in you, you’re welcome to get in touch. I work with people who want to understand themselves better and make real, lasting change. It starts with a conversation. If something here speaks to what you’ve been feeling, you can read the full version on my site. Click the link to read the article 👇 

https://rogerhughes.org/2025/12/28/grief-isnt-an-emotion-its-a-full-body-reboot/

Email: rhmindcare@protonmail.com

Call (Int’l): +44 1304 799658