Riding the Unstoppable Wave: Getting through an RSD Episode.

An RSD episode feels like a sudden, agonizing all over sunburn and takes over the mind, body and emotions. Either energising us for completely the wrong action or sending us into complete paralysis. The pain is not a dramatic overreaction; it is a raw, physical pain triggered by a rejection that leaves you feeling utterly exposed and isolated.

When the wave crashes over you, logic fails. To the loved ones watching this happen: please understand that you cannot reason or comfort someone out of an active episode once it has started. There is no stopping it or fixing it in the moment; it must simply run its course.

The classic children's book We’re Going on a Bear Hunt captures this truth perfectly: "We can’t go over it. We can’t go under it. Oh no! We’ve got to go through it."

Since the storm is unstoppable, your only job is survival through radical self-compassion. Drop the pressure to "snap out of it," - you can’t. Secure your anchors, and ride out the wave until logic comes back. Then tell yourself "Well done" you got through it.