In this episode, Colleen shares a simple moment from her morning — a single unexpected email — that shows exactly how the nervous system can hijack your day before you even know what happened. What could've turned into urgency, frustration, and spiraling worst-case scenarios instead became a real-time example of emotional sobriety: noticing the startle, interrupting the stress response, and choosing from capacity instead of panic.

She breaks down the subtle physiological chain reaction that happens long before overwhelm hits — the jolt, the mental spin, the internal "wall," the freeze — and shows how quickly your brain starts catastrophizing when your capacity is low. Colleen also explains why even tiny stressors feel massive when you're depleted, and how honoring your body's limits (instead of bulldozing through them) changes everything about how you show up.

🔑 Key Takeaways

• The five stages of the trauma response and how to spot them as they unfold
• Why capacity changes daily — and why ignoring that reality leads straight to overwhelm
• How your brain hijacks your perspective when you're tired, stressed, or depleted
• Why completing the stress response is non-negotiable if you want to stay effective
• How to shift from "fix it now" urgency to grounded, strategic problem-solving
• A simple litmus test to know whether something expands your capacity or drains it
• How emotional sobriety turns small moments into opportunities to build resilience

This is a reminder that your power isn't in outrunning stress — it's in noticing it sooner, responding with compassion, and restoring your capacity before you take action. That is what makes you truly unstoppable.

If you are ready to get support from a community of women who are co-creating this change with intention and clarity— Click here to BOOK A DISCOVERY CALL. 

Do you want help from Colleen with a situation you're struggling with? Click here to submit your question for Colleen's NEW Q&A episodes. Your name will not be mentioned on air! 

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X (Twitter) : @NotAboutTheAlc

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