Psychologist Reveals Constant Busyness Is Survival Strategy to Avoid Childhood Pain

What was said

"Keeping ourselves busy keeps our attention outward, not inward on us. For a lot of us who never had safety and security, the ability to just be in childhood, rest, feel at ease—stillness, solitude—there was a time where I lived in New York City and had to have a television on at night because the sound of solitude, of silence, of not having all of my days planned, the minute my body had the opportunity to stop, what was I met with? The agitation, the overwhelming sensations that busyness was protecting me from."

LePera traced chronic busyness and inability to rest to dysregulated nervous systems formed in unpredictable or chaotic childhoods. She disclosed her own struggle with stillness, requiring constant noise and scheduled activities to avoid overwhelming internal sensations. The claim reframes productivity culture as a widespread trauma response rather than ambition.