08/10/2026
Are you the person who can hold everything together when something really needs to be dealt with, but then find yourself completely undone by something small afterwards?
You might be able to think clearly in an emergency, make decisions, organise everyone else and keep going when there is no room to fall apart.
Then the crisis passes. And suddenly you're exhausted, irritable, tearful or overwhelmed by something that, on another day, probably wouldn't bother you much at all. It can be tempting to look at that reaction and think, Why am I coping so badly with this?
But the size of the thing that finally tips you over isn't necessarily a measure of how much you're carrying. Sometimes the nervous system can stay focused while there is something that needs to be done. The feelings, fatigue and tension can wait. Until they can't.
So instead of only asking, “Why am I reacting so strongly to this?”, it can be worth asking, “What has my nervous system already been carrying?”
Because sometimes the small thing isn't the whole story.
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