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Unraveling

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A defining trait of chronic stress is the unrelenting urgency — the sense that everything must be resolved "yesterday." The weight of this feeling is so immense that, among those acutely aware of their mounting responsibilities, nothing ever truly gets done, for everything is a priority.

Another illusion spun by stress is the belief that any moment spent pausing is "wasted time." They believe this because they fail to recognise a fundamental human truth: our emotional energy is not infinite.

When your emotional reserves are full, you feel invincible, ready to tackle anything, armed with the inner resources to overcome adversity. But if you are fighting at your weakest, with no glimpse of change on the horizon, you will likely choose to ignore the problem or push it aside for later.

It seems contradictory — and in a way, it is — but this is the mind’s defence mechanism. At first, you deny your discomfort, and then, as if by instinct, you declare the matter "settled." At least, for as long as you lack the energy to confront reality.

When the anxious soul insists on doing everything at once, they are, in truth, teetering on the brink of collapse. Their emotional energy lingers at a fragile equilibrium — just enough fuel to keep pushing forward — but the absence of clarity, focus, and patience, all hallmarks of chronic stress, leaves them trapped in the paradox of effort without completion.

And yet, one of the reasons the anxious wish to resolve everything at once is precisely because, in that fleeting moment, they still possess a glimmer of emotional energy. They cling to it, desperate. But it is unsustainable — for in the absence of proper management, stress will rise and fall, pulling their mood along with it…
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