How to identify your breaking point before it happens
Stress happens, just as life happens! Stress is a normal human reaction that happens to all of us. It’s our body doing what it needs to do to protect us when our brain perceives a threat (real or perceived). Therefore, stress is adaptive in the short term by preparing our body for emergencies, BUT The problem arises when our body tries to handle long term stress, or too much stress at once.
Most of the time stress isn’t instant. It builds and most of us don’t even notice we’re at our breaking point (or feeling burned out) until it’s too late. I like to think about our minds and bodies as a gas tank. We don’t want our own personal gas tank to get to empty and need to recognize how to catch it before it gets to empty. Here are a few ways to recognize when your fuel tank is running on low, and how to replenish it.
- Check in with yourself throughout the day. Be honest with yourself! These check-ins can look differently for different people, but a few questions you can ask yourself are: How am I feeling (physically and mentally)? What’s working? What’s not working? What do I need right now?
- Do a quick body scan. This will help you see if you are holding any tension throughout your body. Often, we feel something physically, but ignore it. If you notice you are holding tension in your shoulders, jaw, neck etc, take a few moments to relax that area.
- Pause and learn to respond and not react. We often react quickly in highly emotional and stressful situations. Take a moment to pause, take a breath, and then respond.
- Build your own personal coping toolbox. We all need our own toolbox full of tools that we can pull from when we need them. Identify a few tools right now that you can use in the moment when you are feeling stressed. Think of things that bring you joy, are relaxing and calming to you. That may be getting outside to get fresh air, taking a walk, calling a friend, doing some breathing exercises, reading a book, etc. The list is endless, but the key is to identify what you see yourself doing at these times.
It’s important to understand ourselves and the patterns in our own energy shifts so we can make changes to help prevent stress from building up, or dealing with things that cause us stress. Comment below for which of these tips spoke to you!
