The Cost of Ignoring Stress Signals

Many professionals assume stress is “part of the job.” But ignoring the signs of nervous system dysregulation has real costs:

• Physical: fatigue, headaches, digestive issues

• Emotional: irritability, apathy, emotional overwhelm

• Professional: reduced patience, less creative problem-solving, mistakes

Recognizing that self-care isn’t something you wait to do later, but it something that you can do moment to moment is revolutionary. Regulation gives you the bandwidth to respond thoughtfully rather than react from a reactive or a depleted state. Regulation means an awareness of what you need, the skills to give yourself what you need, and an authentic, deep-rooted sense of trust.

And it doesn’t stop there. Simply by doing this, you start to give others permission to proceed in a more mindful way, in awareness of their bodies. Can you imagine what a workplace could look like if every leader showed up with awareness of their nervous system?