The Last Straw
Have you ever had a day when losing a sock can send you into an emotional tailspin? Or you forget to send an email, and it causes you to question your self-worth? Did you feel that you were overreacting to something, had no idea why, and felt unable to stop?
We’ve all had days when seemingly small stressors cause big feelings. We have a surge of anger, frustration, fear, or worry that seems to overtake our minds and bodies. This might be followed by a wave of exhaustion that makes us feel like getting back in bed.
Our Stress Threshold
What causes these feelings, and why can we handle them some days and not others? According to Viva Center therapist Stacey Thompson, LICSW, one major reason could be that we’ve ventured outside our “Window of Tolerance.”
Coined by Daniel Siegel, the term “Window of Tolerance” (or stress threshold) describes how our minds and bodies respond to stress. When we are within our threshold, says Thompson, feelings like irritation, anger, or anxiety are uncomfortable, but we can manage them and still function. In response to losing our sock, for example, we might just wear long pants to hide the mismatch. We’ll feel a little annoyed, but able to move forward to the next thing in our day.
“Our Window of Tolerance is shaped by our life experiences, and each person’s is unique,” says Thompson. Traumatic experiences can narrow our Window. Other factors, such as social support, a sense of safety, and tools for coping with our feelings can widen our stress threshold.
It can be helpful to think of our Window as an empty glass and stress as the water that fills it. As long as the glass is less than full, we can contain the water. However, when the glass is filled too high, the water overflows and makes a mess. The same is true with our ability to tolerate stress. When our metaphorical cup overflows, the stress overwhelms our coping mechanisms, and our fight, flight, or freeze responses kick in.
Fight or Flight
Fight and flight responses are both examples of hyperarousal, states in which our bodies prepare us for emergency action. Our pupils dilate so we can take in more information, and our muscles tense so we can take quick action.
Since the beginning of time, these reactions helped prepare us to protect ourselves. Yet we’re not designed to be in fight or flight all the time. This represents a problem when we’re stressed and our bodies kick into fight or flight automatically.
A person in a hyperaroused state may respond to a missing sock by tearing through their drawer or punching a wall.
In contrast, the freeze response is an example of hypo-arousal, which occurs when our brain senses that it is not possible to fight off or escape from a threat, so the best solution is to numb itself. Hypoarousal is characterized by feeling disconnected, immobile, or emotionless. In our daily lives, it can present as chronic fatigue, difficulty thinking or responding to information, and/or feeling emotionally shut down.
A person in a hypo-aroused state may view a lost sock as a sign the day will be terrible and crawl back into bed.
How to Stay Within Our Stress Threshold
We want to remain within our Window of Tolerance (or return to it as quickly as possible) so we can avoid the negative effects of hypo and hyperarousal. Thompson recommends the following.
1. Working with a therapist
Research shows that psychotherapy is one of the most effective ways to widen the Window of Tolerance. This is especially true when we feel that a past trauma may be contributing to our stress. A therapist who practices with a trauma-informed approach can help change a client’s relationship to a traumatic experience and develop strategies to manage, and even overcome, negative thoughts and feelings. If you have any questions on trauma-informed therapy or would like to meet with a therapist for a consultation, contact us here.
2. Calming activities
Meditating, exercising, getting outside, knitting, writing, reading—-these are just a handful of activities that can induce a sense of calm and help you manage stress.
Thompson suggests thinking back to how you may have coped with a stressful event in the past and asking yourself: When did you start to feel better? What were you doing when that positive change occurred? Could you try that again to see if it could help with the current situation?
You can experiment with different techniques to discover what works for you. For example, if you hate sitting still, and don’t feel like you “have to” or “should” try meditating; you may discover that dance or yoga works better. Your friends and family may also have suggestions of approaches that work for them.
3. Mindfulness practice
Whether you have a therapist guiding you or you’re learning on your own, mindfulness techniques can help you return to the present moment when your emotions feel out of control. Mindfulness practice involves fully attending to the present moment: the room you’re in, the way your body feels, the way you’re using space, etc. Honing in on these details can help turn off the faucet when water is threatening to overflow our emotional cup. Some popular and simple mindfulness activities can be found right here.
