The body provides many signals when you are stressed. But for those who are chronically stressed the signals are always present and therefore undetectable. It

The body provides many signals when you are stressed. But for those who are chronically stressed the signals are always present and therefore undetectable. It wasn't until my mid-30's where I was able to have some downtime and learn what a healthy mind and body truly felt like. With a healthy baseline I can now quickly detect stress signals. This can be a subtle as feeling my face is wrinkled, a slight acid/burning feeling in my veins, absent mindedness, depression, quick/aggressive responses, flatulence, slight backache/tension, sleeping poorly, etc. When I detect any of the stress signals I use one of the following techniques depending on the severity: I make "no" my default response to any new requests. I take deep breaths and softly smile. I switch to 100% selfish thinking; "what do I want ?", "what are my short and long term goals and what is my next step towards them ?". I plan. I make the gym and sleep a priority. I triage my todo list, cancel trips, and communicate with anyone who might get impacted. I avoid the news. I drink more water. I focus on anything beautiful immediately in front of me (usually the beauty of my meal since my mind tends to wander while eating).