I recently realized that I had stopped following my own advice.
I have had a pretty busy year so far - expos, workshops, conferences, photography and editing for a friend’s wedding, with a nearly-full client load.
Since the beginning of the year, I have had my internal throttle set on high - “pedal to the metal” so to speak. I’ve been pushing myself to complete one task to make room for another, planning ahead, and trying to balance the load of several projects at once because their event dates were close together.
Every day for months, my first thought was, “What do I need to get done today?”
And my second thought was, “How can I squeeze that in between my scheduled clients?”
I felt constant internal pressure, not only from the deadlines, but from my own desire to do more than just a good job. I wanted everything to be exceptional. The pressure followed me into the evenings and weekends.
And then, quite suddenly, my schedule cleared up (other than still seeing my one-on-one clients).
But the internal pressure continued.
My thoughts shifted to, “What’s next? What’s going to move my business forward? What can I offer people? What can I make or do for them?”
Still push, push, push.
As I tried to answer these questions, I noticed a significant internal resistance to everything I came up with. I immediately assumed the resistance meant there was some deeper issue I needed to work through — perhaps fear of failure or limiting beliefs around growth. As it turned out, it was something much simpler.
Thankfully, I had my own one-on-one EFT/Tapping session scheduled with my practitioner that afternoon. In that session, I had the profound insight: my next step most aligned with my highest good is…(drum roll, please)…nothing.
That’s right. Nothing.
Stop. Exhale. Shake it off. Release the pressure. Rest. Reset the nervous system. Maybe even celebrate my successes so far. But don’t start anything new. Not right now.
I teach my clients that there is a healthy cycle to stress: stimulus, activation, recovery.
The stimulus is the trigger - in my case the projects and deadlines.
The activation is the nervous system mobilizing to meet the demand - in my case the pressure, hyper-focus, and narrowed attention to complete tasks.
The recovery is the downshift in the nervous system once the demand has passed. In my case, that downshift never happened.
You might recognize this in your own life.
Maybe you finally get home after a hectic day, but you can't relax.
Maybe you finish a major project only to immediately start worrying about the next one.
Maybe you sit down to watch TV, yet your mind is still making lists.
Or perhaps you feel guilty for resting because it seems like there's always something more productive you should be doing.
These can all be signs that your body hasn't completed the recovery part of the stress cycle.
Stress itself isn't the problem; getting trapped in activation is. Our nervous systems are designed to respond to demand and then recover. When recovery doesn't happen, the body continues acting as though the demand is still present, even when the deadline has passed.
Maybe your nervous system isn't asking you to do more.
Maybe it's asking you to pause for just long enough to complete the stress cycle.
Recovery isn't falling behind. It's part of moving forward.
Here’s to calming stress at the source.
With heart,
Louise
The Stress Experts
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