Most women don’t realise they’re burnt out until their body taps them on the shoulder like,
“Honey… we’re out.”
Not because they’re weak – but because their nervous system has been operating outside its window of tolerance for way too long.
What’s the Window of Tolerance?
Think of your nervous system like a bandwidth.
Inside the “window,” you can:
- think clearly
- regulate emotions
- make decisions
- and feel grounded in your body
Outside it?
Welcome to survival mode… panic, shutdown, reactivity, irritability, numbness, exhaustion, and that classic “I can’t do this anymore” overwhelm.
How Long-Term Stress Shrinks Your Window
Your nervous system adapts to whatever you live in.
If you’ve survived years of chaos, pressure, emotional responsibility, trauma, or simply being the strong one 24/7… your system learns to live on high alert.
Over time, the window narrows.
This means it takes far less stress to push you into:
- fight (snapping, anger, urgency)
- flight (overthinking, perfectionism, anxiety, busy-ness)
- freeze (numbness, procrastination, fatigue)
- fawn (over-pleasing or abandoning yourself)
It’s not a personality flaw. It’s physiology.
You don’t “get over it” by being positive or trying harder.
You widen it again by training your nervous system back into safety.
Use the tool in this video every day to strengthen your nervous system daily.
Jessica Ella
Jessica Ella is the creator of Aaruka® Therapy, and host of The Jessica Ella Podcast. She teaches women how to heal at the deepest level using subconscious reprogramming, somatic healing, memory processing, and energetic mastery.
Find her work, courses, and podcast at jessicaella.com.au or on Instagram at @iamjessicaella
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