The "Fast Car" Myth: Why We Need a "Controlled Trot" Instead of an Escape

The wind pulls at your hairline, a sharp, cool contrast to the low thrum of the engine vibrating through your seat. There is a specific kind of magic in finally being in motion—the feeling of "being someone" when you are finally moving, finally going, finally leaving the stagnant reality behind.

For many of us, that longing for a "fast car"—the urge to drive until the circumstances are behind us—feels like a survival strategy. In therapy, we often call this the "Pushing Through" Myth. We treat our lives like a race, believing that if we just drive faster, push harder, and output more, we can finally arrive at safety. But in the therapy room, we see the cost of that acceleration. Overriding exhaustion and sensory overwhelm might look like high-functioning productivity on the outside, but inside, your system is running on fumes.

While the song seeks an escape, somatic work focuses on something different: the "Controlled Trot". We aren't trying to collapse the engine by pushing it to the red line. Instead, we learn to read the "dashboard lights" of the body—that tightness in the chest, the sudden brain fog, the heaviness in your limbs. These are not signs of failure; they are communication. They are your system telling you that the engine is overheating long before the car breaks down.

My practice doesn't demand high-speed "results" that leave you exhausted. We move away from the "all-or-nothing" cycle and instead practice "brick-by-brick" pacing that keeps your nervous system online. We honor the "slow down" as a radical act of self-care. Private-pay therapy allows us the space and time to respect your unique pacing, ensuring that therapy supports your life rather than becoming another task on an already overflowing to-do list.

Ready to trade the frantic "Fast Car" escape for a sustainable, controlled trot?

I provide 100% virtual, neuro-affirming somatic therapy for adults across Minnesota who are ready to move from survival into a life of embodied, values-aligned peace.

About the Clinical Approach

Richelle Amundson, owner of Fig Tree Services, specializes in neurodivergent-affirming, somatic-informed trauma care. Her practice integrates core frameworks—including Internal Family Systems (IFS), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, and AEDP—to help clients move beyond trauma-driven adaptation toward authentic self-assertion. Her work utilizes an integrative, evidence-based toolkit to provide a safe, relational container that honors individual capacity and fosters nervous system regulation. To learn more about the therapeutic modalities used at Fig Tree Services, visit https://www.fig-tree-services.com/.