Paige's Story
Paige can remember feeling “extreme sensitivity” to her surroundings from the age of 4. This experience that she later could identify as Misophonia was triggered by common noises found in the classroom, made by ear/nose/throat, household pets, eating, and visuals of hands and feet. Paige notes that while “every once in a while” a particular person would be a trigger, she more often dissociated from her “fierce, strong emotions” towards people and would become obsessive about the sound or motion so “it” would just happen to be triggering.
Paige reports that the severity of her experience with triggers was a “10” as her daily life choices, environment, social interactions, and overall sense of well-being was largely determined by Misophonia. Despite the pain of her experience, she considered herself to be a “functional” Misophone.
Now Paige rates her Misophonia as a “1-2”. She reports “I don’t think I’ll ever not be “aware” of certain behaviors / triggers. In these moments though, I have 100% self-regulation and can remain an observer vs. allowing any primal responses to take over the situation.” Paige reports she has maintained this level of “freedom” for the past three years.
Paige’s healing journey started out of sheer need for survival due to experiencing multiple ACE’s (adverse childhood experiences) growing up and developing serious health issues. She also found that common behaviors to cope with her traumatic experiences (substance use and an eating disorder) were quickly proven to not be good for her “even though it felt good—for a brief time—I was always guided back to a path of healing”.
When asked if Paige identifies as HSP (Highly Sensitive Person) and empathic she replied, “Absolutely. I am incredibly sensitive to colors, sound, light, vibration, emotions and am attuned to subtle energies. It’s been stated that it’s one of my superpowers as a space holder, people manager, listener, teacher. Empathy combined with deep loving compassion.”
Paige credits her deep connection to a holistic, mind/body/spirit focused modalities of healing as being essential to her finding relief from not only past traumas, but Misophonia as well.
“I have always been drawn to ancestral, generational healing, connection to nature, and plant medicines…”
Paige considers plant medicine as a powerful tool for grounding and centering. She shared two journeys where the nature of Paige’s Misophonia was revealed. The first journey’s intention was to understand the part of her brain that was getting activated when triggered.
“On my journey I was able to see that part of my brain that ‘lit up’ when hearing triggers. It was sensitive to the sounds, but then I noticed a ‘glitch’ which seemed to be the Misophonia. In getting curious about the ‘glitch’ I realized it was parts of me that were missing, and I needed to call them back”. This led to deeper healing of past traumas and the development of deep compassion for “little Paige” and all she had experienced.
In a second journey she received insight around her need to heal physically. “While the first journey highlighted the need for spiritual healing, the second highlighted the need for physical healing of the body and grounding to the earth”. Understanding the healing power of food, herbs, and teas were part of this process, as well as connection to nature and the idea of “mutual reciprocity” with nature and the earth. Paige reports that these two pieces were key to healing her auto-immune symptoms as well as Misophonia.
When asked which of these factors Paige believes played a role in getting to a better place with Misophonia she replied, “all of the above!”:
-
Agency over your workspace and home environment
-
Addressing unhealthy relationship dynamics/setting boundaries
-
Addressing shame
-
Addressing lifestyle/health issues
-
Trauma healing
-
Reconditioning work specific to triggers
-
Learning to advocate for yourself
-
Changing the way you think about triggers/trigger people
-
Other (getting in touch with your anger, learning how to process emotions, relaxation practices, etc.)
When asked about any maintenance work she does, she replied, “I see my relationship with Misophonia as a sacred one, it shows me areas of my life and self that need healing”.
Here are some of the things she practices:
-
A daily practice to be aligned to my healing journey “I think this is true for anyone who has experienced deep/transformative healing that crossed physical/emotional/spiritual planes”
-
An everyday check in with myself - meditate - sit with my body in breathwork and some type of physical activities (somatic release--the most helpful in terms of cellular healing).
-
Actively journal or have some form of personal expression (even if that’s humming sounds, instruments, cooking, even putting on makeup or sending a message to a friend that I haven’t spoken to, but has been on my heart)
-
Give gratitude to my heightened senses with Misophonia whenever the memory arises in me. I’ll see/notice something that would have triggered me to the point of fleeing/crying/distraction and observe my present response (which is not reacting) and I offer myself grace and gratitude for the awareness and strength it’s taken to face that deep fear in my being.
-
Challenging myself to be in difficult situations is part of maintaining clarity on the healing journey as well (it’s like a balance test)
Paige shared that hearing other people’s stories on “The Misophonia Podcast” was key to her understanding and having compassion for her experiences and expressed much gratitude for the people who shared their stories. When asked to consider what she would like to transmit to the Misophonia community, Paige reflected that “I see Misophonia as my greatest gift, and in that way I find it sacred. It’s a treasure chest of learnings and of wisdom I can keep going to for deeper insight and healing. I realize now that it is my superpower and that it can be used to connect with others for collective healing—like a sacred society—I am excited to explore other people’s gifts with them and honor the ‘sacred self’”.