We touched on stress on Day 4, but it deserves another look.
Modern life — with its conference calls, push notifications, office politics, family demands, lack of structural support and endless screens — is brimming with stress we’ve been taught to normalize. But the truth of the matter is: it’s not normal.
Our bodies weren’t designed to scroll endlessly through atrocities happening across the globe, while also caring for loved ones, working full-time and rarely touching the earth. They weren’t made to spend more time gazing at screens than the faces of our people.
When stress hits, your body shifts into survival mode — cortisol spikes, heart rate rises, digestion slows. Over time, chronic stress and dopamine depletion leave us drained, disconnected and dysregulated. And the womb feels it: irregular cycles, worsened cramps, heavy bleeding and hormone imbalance all trace back to unrelenting stress.
In a world that demands so much, learning to say no is a radical act of care. No is a complete sentence. Protecting your energy allows you to channel it in ways that are fortifying and freeing, instead of draining.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Kinfolk Daily by CRWNMAG to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.