Your Brain is Getting High on Dreams You Never Chase

Ever notice how good it feels to dream about that business you'll start, that trip you'll take, or that project you'll finally finish?

There's a reason for that intoxicating rush – your brain is literally throwing you a chemical party. Dopamine, serotonin, endorphins, and norepinephrine flood your system, creating a natural high that feels amazing... but often leads nowhere.

The uncomfortable truth? Most of us have become dream addicts.

We get high off possibilities without doing the work to make them real. And what nobody tells you about change is that it comes with a time limit. There's a neurological window – maybe 20 minutes, maybe a few hours – where your motivation chemicals peak.

Miss that window, and your primitive brain pulls you right back to what's familiar, even if familiar is slowly killing your dreams.

In this 8-minute episode, you'll discover:

• Why your brain releases a chemical cocktail when you think about dreams
• The 20-minute to few-hour motivation window that changes everything
• How to use the Emotional Response Cycle to break the pattern
• One question that can shift your next 24 hours (and your future)

The real transformation happens when you stop being hijacked by your brain chemistry and start working WITH it instead.

Ready to break the cycle? Don't let this be another dopamine hit without follow-through. Your dreams don't belong in the clouds – they belong here in your messy, beautiful reality.

Drop a comment: What's one action you're committing to in the next 24 hours?

🔗 For more tools: www.liftoneself.com 🎯 Ready to go deeper? Join the Emotional Sobriety Workshop where we practice breaking this cycle together.

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome and Dream Addiction Truth
• 0:57 Mindful Moment Exercise
• 2:29 The Chemical Party in Your Brain
• 3:43 The Emotional Response Cycle Tool
• 6:15 Call to Action and Workshop Invitation

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:05

Welcome home to the Lift when Self podcast. I'm your host, nat Nat. And here's the brutal truth. Most of us are dream addicts. We get high off the fantasy, the possibility, the someday when I'm ready, story, we tell ourselves, but we never actually bring our dreams down from the clouds into our messy, imperfect, beautifully human reality. This episode is going to bring some truth, and with truth can come discomfort, because I'm going to ask you to look at how you've been holding your dreams. But I'm not here to just point out the pattern. I want to give you tools to move through it.

Speaker 1: 0:49

So, before we dive in, let's prepare your body, your nervous system, to actually receive what's about to land. Let's take this mindful moment, place one hand on your chest. One hand on your chest, one hand on your belly and, if it's safe to do so, gently close your eyes. Bring an intention to the body of being open to listening and supporting what you're dreaming. Now, when breathing, you're going to inhale down to the bottom of your spine, feel the breath rising upwards and when you exhale softly through your mouth, draw the belly in to let it all go. Let's begin Inhale slowly through your nose, feel that dream, that longing rising up. Exhale softly through your mouth. Actually be present with your vision instead of just fantasizing about it. Tell your body it's safe to feel the expansion and delight of this dream. Inhale slowly through your nose, exhale slowly through your mouth. You know that feeling.

Speaker 1: 2:29

When you think about the job you really want that project you've been dreaming about that trip. You keep saying I'll take one day that business you want to start. Your whole body gets energized. You're like yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. This is it inside. That's a cocktail of chemicals flooding your system. Dopamine gives you the anticipation rush. Norepinephrine I hope I said it right. I always butcher that one creates that energized feeling. Endorphins deliver that brief euphoria. Serotonin boosts your confidence. You believe you can do this. Your brain is literally throwing you a chemical party for just thinking about change. Feel into your body right now. Can you sense that cocktail rising when you think about your dream? But here's the trap You're getting the chemical payoff without doing any of the work. And what happens? You don't follow through, you wait, you let the wave of energy pass by.

Speaker 1: 3:38

Each time you do this, the hit gets weaker. Eventually, even your biggest dreams feel flat, like the spark's been drained. Here's why this is happening. What nobody tells you about change is that it comes up strong, but it doesn't wait around. There is a neurological window, maybe 20 minutes, maybe a few hours, where your motivation chemicals are peaked. Few hours where your motivation chemicals are peaked, miss that window and your nervous system will pull you right back into survival mode, back to what's familiar, even if it's slowly killing your dreams, because, to your primitive brain, familiar equals safe, even when familiar is keeping you trapped. The real shift, the one that changes everything, comes when you stop running from this uncomfortable truth. Most of us do this. We reach for the dopamine hit instead of the actual work. It's not weakness, it's how our nervous system protects us, but staying there keeps us small, because starting is easy, ending is easy, but staying showing up when the excitement wears off, when it's boring, when it's hard, when your nervous system is screaming to go back to safe, that's where dreams either die or come alive.

Speaker 1: 5:04

I'm going to share a tool to help you catch yourself before you get trapped again. It's called the emotional response cycle and I use it in my emotional sobriety workshop. Think about that dream we talked about earlier. What triggered that dopamine hit? Was it a conversation, a post, a quiet moment where your soul spoke. What's your automatic response? Notice your body, your mind. Are you excited, planning, already talking yourself out of it? How are you going to react? Will you let this energy pass or channel it into one action? What will reinforce the pattern? Avoiding action trains your system that dreams are just fantasies. Acting proves inspiration can be reality, and this is what emotional sobriety teaches you how to stop getting hijacked by brain chemistry. How to catch the waves of inspiration and ride it into action. How to teach your nervous system that rest is safe, the unknown is safe. Growth doesn't equal threat. This is just one tool.

Speaker 1: 6:16

We dive into the workshop because awareness is the first step, but systems, practices are what create lasting change. You to feel excited. Every day they're asking you to show up, to choose expansion over familiar, again and again, until it becomes who you are. So here's your moment of truth. What's one action you can take in the next 24 hours that, six months from now, your future self will thank you for? From now your future self will thank you for. Feel it in your body, write it down and then do it like your future depends on it, because it does.

Speaker 1: 7:00

Don't let this be another dopamine hit. Let it be the start of something real. If this landed for you, hit that like button. It tells me this work matters to you. Share it with somebody who needs to hear this truth and drop a comment below what's the one action you're committing to in the next 24 hours? If this resonated, the Emotional Sobriety Workshop is where we actually practice breaking this cycle together. You don't just hear it, you embody it. For more tools to stop living in survival mode and start living your truth, visit wwwliftoneselfcom. Until next time, remember you belong to yourself and your dreams. They don't belong in the clouds, they belong here in reality.