Feeling Numb? You Are Not Alone

There’s a quiet kind of pain that often goes unnoticed when you don’t feel anything at all.

Maybe you’ve said “I’m fine” so many times it’s become automatic, even though deep down you know something’s missing. Maybe you haven’t cried in years, even when you feel something should have hurt. Perhaps you find yourself thinking through emotions, but nothing seems to really land. Not joy, not sadness, not even anger, just... nothing.

This is what emotional numbness can feel like. A kind of flatness. Disconnection. A sense of floating through life, but not really being in it.

It’s more common than you might think and it doesn’t mean something is wrong with you.

Often, numbness is the mind and body’s way of protecting us; perhaps you were taught not to feel, that it is unsafe to have big emotions. Numbness can also show up after long periods of stress, grief, trauma, or burnout. When feeling becomes too much, we sometimes stop feeling altogether. It’s a survival strategy, and in some way, it may have helped you cope. That deserves respect.

However over time, this kind of disconnection with yourself can start to hurt too. You might miss yourself and feel like you’re living on autopilot. You might crave real emotion but feel scared of it at the same time.

That’s where counselling can help.

Within the therapeutic relationship, there’s no pressure to “fix” yourself. It’s not about digging up feelings you’re not ready for. Instead, counselling offers a gentle invitation to begin noticing, at your pace, what’s really going on beneath the surface. We might start by exploring how numbness shows up in your life; what it's protecting and what it's trying to say.

Together, we will welcome your numbness, so that over time, you can begin to feel more connected to yourself. Through this process, small shifts will begin to happen: a moment of real laughter, an unexpected tear, a feeling of relief, and in those moments, something starts to come back.

You deserve to feel and you deserve support that meets you where you are.

If you’re feeling numb, it’s not something you have to figure out alone. Counselling can be a place to begin again; gently, honestly, and in your own time.