I used to run long distances.
And I struggled to balance work, family, training, renovating our home, and trying to figure out what I actually wanted to do with my life.
Then I read an article from ultrarunning coach David Roche that rewired how I think about stress. He wrote: “The body doesn’t know miles. It only knows stress.”
What he meant was simple, but powerful: your body doesn’t separate your stressors – it adds them together.
There is only one bucket, and everything pours into it:
- The inbox that never empties
- Vacation planning and mortgage payments
- A parent’s health scare
- Doom-scrolling political news at midnight
- Training for a race on four hours of sleep
- The quiet fear that life is slipping past faster than you can grab it
Same bucket. Same impact on your body.
And when that bucket overflows, the body rings whatever alarm bell it can:
tight hips that won’t release, a shoulder that freezes overnight, heart palpitations on Sunday evening, IBS on the day of the big meeting, or the injury that “came out of nowhere.”
Sometimes you can’t change the hard stressors (workload, financial worries).
But there is a gentler way to work with the total load you’re carrying.
Here’s a simple practice that often helps:
- Take five honest minutes and list everything that has cost you energy in the last 30 days. No ranking, no minimising. If it drained you, it gets a line.
- Circle the one stressor that is easiest – not the biggest, not the most “noble” – to reduce right now.
(Common winners: late-night scrolling, the extra workout you don’t need, the group chat that spikes your nervous system, or saying yes when no would be kinder.) - Reduce that one stressor by 20-50% for the next two weeks.
That’s it.
Lowering the overall load even a little can create space you may not have felt in a while.
Maybe you sleep a bit better. Maybe your shoulders soften. Maybe you simply catch yourself breathing again.
Small shifts often make room for bigger ones to follow.
Your body isn’t confused about what counts as stress.
It’s doing its best with what’s in the bucket.
So take a look at your bucket today. Notice what’s filling it. And choose one thing you can pour out – or at least stop pouring in.
You may not control everything that fills your bucket.
But you do have a say in how full it gets.
Even one small adjustment can create a bit more room to breathe – and sometimes that’s enough to regain your footing.