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How to Cope with That Horrible Stress Feeling
- Stella Rose Sheldon
- 11 minutes ago
- 5 min read
For those of you who have been following my journey, you will know that my partner and I have been trying vanlife this summer. For those of you who are new here, the short version is that, looking for a cheaper way of living, to resist the rat race, and combine both our home counties of Norfolk and Yorkshire, we squeezed our life into a Peugeot Boxer in May and hit the road.
In all honesty, we can’t believe it has only been three months! It feels much longer. I know that isn’t particularly romantic or ‘positive’, but it is the truth. It has been a big change, and we have found it challenging in ways we hadn’t expected.
Yes, there have been beautiful moments of freedom and I have found mindful days with calm. Bluebell is great and it is cool to have this experience of carrying our home on our back. We have come to understand that living in a van is doable, and many people do it for different reasons, but it isn’t for us.
There, I said it. We are getting ready to sell Bluebell and enter our next chapter.
When you are running a wellness business, there is always a balance between sharing your story honestly, yet with boundaries, and finding and sharing lessons and inspiration. I certainly do not always get that right, and it is an ongoing skill.
I want to share one thing that this experience has reminded me of: how easily stress can build up when life asks more of us than we have the capacity for.
It has taken me a while to understand the feeling of being disorientated and wobbly, and to recognise that my stress levels were building in my body.
There have been lots of practical changes and adjustments, alongside trying to maintain our normal work and life. None of these things on their own were necessarily a big deal, but together they added up.
And I think this is something many of us can relate to.
We can only hold so much as humans, and it doesn’t take much for the cup to overflow. We might have a few stressful events come along in one year and throw us off kilter. Then it can be surprisingly easy to find ourselves feeling overwhelmed, exhausted, irritable or just not quite ourselves.
Not feeling like yourself or right in your body, can be a scary place to be.
I know this feeling well, and I have spent years learning how to reduce stress and find more peace and health. Regulating stress has been at the centre of my life and my work.
I have found hypnosis really powerful in inducing deep relaxation and helping us learn to access that state more easily. EFT tapping can be a brilliant way of working with stress, emotions and the nervous system. Qigong guides us into a more regulated, restorative state in the body.
These tools have, and will continue to change my life, and I know they can be incredibly helpful for others too.
But I have also been reminded that when we are already overwhelmed, it can be surprisingly hard to access the things we know will help us.
I hear clients express this all the time.
This is a huge part of the challenge we face.
Sometimes we don't need another thing to add to the list.
Sometimes we need to slow everything down and make things simpler.
So, if you are feeling overwhelmed or stressed, here are a few of my top reminders, because I need reminding too.
Less is more. Simple steps help us find balance (and a simple life might not always be what we thought).
The ‘doing’ mode is fine for some of the time, but we need to learn to leave it and relax.
When we have been stressed for a while, slowing down can actually feel uncomfortable.
We can become so used to being busy, switched on and getting things done that pausing can feel difficult.
No wonder you don’t always want to stop and feel what is going on inside.
It is easier to scroll or have a glass of wine. You’re human.
This being human is also what makes you so amazing.
You can change the pattern.
For us, we are now looking forward to finding more of a stable base for a while.
For all the growth we have had this summer, I am looking forward to seeing what will blossom from a feeling of more stability and somewhere to land.
If you are feeling stressed, know that you are not alone.
And if everyone around you is stressed, that doesn’t mean it is normal or that you just have to put up with it.
Sometimes stress looks like being really busy, mastering the 'to do' list or being more emotional than normal. It is hard to see the lighter side of life, when you're in fight or flight.
Changing from a stress state towards a more regulated, healing state is possible, even when your brain is telling you that you don’t have the time, energy or capacity for it.
I know that sometimes life is so challenging that finding peace feels impossible. There can be so many pressures on us that we simply don’t have a chance to change everything, and we can’t always change things overnight.
We don’t always get to choose what happens to us. But we can learn to understand what stress is doing in our bodies, recognise our patterns and build the skills to meet it differently.
Imagine what you could create from a place of more balance.
The better you feel, the more available you are for your life.
And that is a big part of what working together can be about.
It isn't about me fixing your stress for you. It is about learning practical skills so that you can become your own practitioner, understanding your stress, listening to your body, and learning how to move from overwhelm towards a greater sense of calm and safety.
With understanding, with compassion, again and again.
That is where we create enough safety in the body to feel at home in our lives, wherever they take us.
If you would like to explore working together, you can discover more on my website or reach out for a free exploration call. Or if you have any thoughts after reading the blog today, I would love to hear from you! Thank you for following my journey.
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