StaywellMA

For a long time, I treated stress as something to manage quietly and move past quickly. Tight shoulders . Shallow breathing . Fatigue that lingered longer than it should. I learned to function through it. What I didn’t realize then was that my body wasn’t malfunctioning — it was communicating. Listening didn’t come naturally. It required slowing down enough to notice patterns.  Stress, I learned, doesn’t always arrive as urgency.  Sometimes it shows up as restlessness , forgetfulness , or irritability .  Sometimes it’s the absence of ease. When I finally started paying attention, I noticed how often I pushed past early signals.  I waited until exhaustion and burnout forced me to stop instead of responding when my body first asked for care. Learning to listen changed my relationship with productivity , rest , and responsibility. It taught me that honoring my limits doesn’t make me less capable — it makes me more sustainable. Now, when tension builds, I pause soone...