You’re not broken. You’re just stuck.
If you’ve been waking up exhausted, powering through your days on autopilot, or wondering why the smallest things feel overwhelming lately. You’re not alone.
And more importantly: there’s nothing wrong with you.
What you might be experiencing is something that so many women silently struggle with: a nervous system stuck in survival mode.
Stress isn’t just mental, it’s physical and somatic too.
We often think of stress as being about deadlines, pressure, or external chaos.
But stress doesn’t just live in your mind. It lives in your body.
Your nervous system is constantly scanning the world for cues of safety or danger.
When it senses overwhelm, past trauma, or prolonged pressure, it shifts into protection mode. You might know this as:
- Fight – irritability, anger, reactivity
- Flight – overworking, anxiety, racing thoughts
- Freeze – numbness, fatigue, shutdown
- Fawn – people-pleasing, difficulty setting boundaries
These are not flaws.
They are intelligent, automatic responses from a body trying to keep you safe.
Why you might feel stuck, even when you’re trying so hard to ‘feel better’
The reason rest doesn’t always feel restful…
The reason self-care sometimes feels like more pressure…
The reason you keep snapping, withdrawing, or distracting yourself even though you don’t want to…
…is because your nervous system may not feel safe enough to soften yet.
When you’ve lived in stress for a long time, it can feel unfamiliar even unsafe to slow down.
That doesn’t mean you’re failing.
It means your body needs more support, not more force.
So, what can you do?
The first step is noticing.
Becoming gently aware of how your body responds to stress, and how it tries to protect you.
Start asking yourself:
- What helps me feel slightly more safe or present, even for a moment?
- What do I notice in my body when I’m overwhelmed?
- What patterns keep showing up when I’m under pressure?
This is where true change begins: not in fixing yourself, but in relating to yourself differently.
Final thoughts
You don’t need to push harder or try to “just relax.”
You need spaciousness. Slowness. Curiosity. And care.
Your nervous system isn’t a problem, it’s a messenger.
Start listening, and it will show you the way back to steadiness and connection.
