The Stress Signal You're Probably Missing
Do you know what your body does right before you lose it?Not the full meltdown part... the part that comes before that. The early warning system your nervous system is trying to send you. For me, it's snapping. I get short with my husband. I start getting irritated at the dogs for just... existing. For my guest Audrey Rose (a nurse who burned out hard during the pandemic), it's snapping too, plus total isolation—ignoring texts, avoiding calls, just going dark. Here's why this matters: You can't interrupt a stress pattern you don't recognize. Most of us only notice we're stressed when we're already at a 9 out of 10. We're yelling at someone, crying in the bathroom, or lying awake at 2am with our minds racing. By then, your nervous system has been screaming at you for hours (or days) and you missed all the signs. So here's your homework: Identify your top 3 stress signals. What does your body or behavior do when you're heading toward overwhelm? Some common ones:
Write them down. Put them in your phone. Tell your partner or a friend so they can point it out when they see it. (Or let's be honest, they probably already know what they are.) Once you can recognize the pattern, you can interrupt it. And once you can interrupt it, you can actually do something about it before you hit the wall. In this week's podcast episode with Audrey Rose, we go deep on what to do once you recognize those signals. She shares her 4-step RISE Method, the science behind why your body thinks your inbox is a tiger, and some truly weird (but effective) vagus nerve hacks.
But start with awareness. That alone is huge. You're not broken. You're just overdue for some self-love. Take care, Tara P.S. One of the weird tips we shared is to stand on one leg when you feel overwhelmed. Something about the balance requirement makes it physically impossible to cry. I've tested this. It's wild. Try it and report back. |
