Spot Stress Inside-Out to Gain True Resilience

When the phone rings with the project lead’s name, your stomach knots. Yet is that phone really the stressor, or is it the fear behind it? Most folks blame external events for their stress—bills, bosses, or traffic jams. But the real culprit often sits in our own head. Take Sarah, an editor who dreaded her midday team check-ins. It wasn’t the meetings themselves but her buried guilt over missing deadlines in her rookie years.

One afternoon she scribbled every daily stress point—coffee spills, spam emails, traffic. Then she bracketed each as “Out” or “In.” To her surprise, 70 percent were inside. She circled “fear of failing” next to several items and used the letting-go practice right in her notes: “I release my fear of not measuring up.” As she did, she felt surprising lightness in her hands.

By the next week, her team meetings lost their dread. The actual agenda never changed, but her chest no longer tightened. By facing the inner stress first—tracing worry to its emotional root—she stopped reacting at every ping and deadline. She became adept at releasing those hidden fears before they hijacked her day. Suddenly, she was freer to focus on quality edits rather than defensive footwork.

At your next break or bedtime, list each stress trigger, then note if it’s really “out there” or in your own mind. For those internal ones, breathe in, say “I let that go,” and watch tension drain from your body. You’ll start noticing calmer mornings and sharper focus at work—try it tomorrow.