If you’re curious as to if you have any stored emotions or trauma that might be causing your illness, preventing you from achieving your goals, or even just showing up as the best, authentic version of yourself, I invite you to take my free Stored Emotions and Trauma Quiz.

In this episode, I talk about how I forgot who I was—and how play helped me find my way back.



I share what actually happens in the brain when stress takes over and how it shuts down creativity, joy, and even your ability to make good decisions. I get into why play isn’t just for kids and how parenting, painting, and dancing cracked something open in me I didn’t know I had lost. I explain how chronic stress rewires your nervous system—and how creativity rewires it back. This is about getting out of survival mode and remembering what it feels like to be fully alive.

You’ll Learn:

• What actually happens in your brain when stress takes over
• The real reason play and creativity disappear in adulthood
• Why your prefrontal cortex shuts down under chronic stress
• The surprising link between oxytocin and rewiring your nervous system
• What it feels like to rediscover joy through dancing and art
• The quiet damage of living on autopilot without realizing it
• How play interrupts fear loops and builds safety in the brain
• Simple, low-effort ways to reconnect with your creative side
• Why novelty and imagination are essential for emotional healing
• What parenting revealed to me about my own disconnection

Timestamps:

[00:00] Introduction

[05:38] How dancing revealed my disconnection from joy

[07:00] The science of what stress does to your brain

[08:30] Why cortisol, dopamine, and norepinephrine impair your thinking

[10:30] The danger of living on autopilot and default habits

[11:35] How oxytocin supports healing and rewires the brain

[13:20] Reconnecting with your true self through creativity

[14:55] Easy ways to bring play into daily life

[16:20] Why novelty helps break emotional patterns

[18:40] Unexpected ways to access joy and imagination again

Find More From Dr. Stephanie Davis:

Dr. Stephanie Davis | Website

Quantum Rx | Instagram

Quantum Rx | Skool