Your Body Is Keeping Score (Even When You're Ignoring It)
- kerribrown901
- Jul 21
- 4 min read
No time to read? Listen to the audio below:
At one point in my life I was building a business, raising a baby, managing a new puppy, keeping the house running, being present for my husband, and trying to carve out some time for myself.
On paper it didn't look that different from most moms' lives. But my body was telling a different story.
I wasn't in a crisis. I wasn't falling apart. I was just always on. Always managing. Always moving to the next thing on the list. And I kept telling myself: this is just a lot right now, it'll settle down soon.
It didn't settle down. Because the list doesn't get shorter. It just changes.
What changed was me. And it started with finally understanding what chronic stress was actually doing to my body.
The Kind of Stress Most Moms Don't Even Recognize
When most people think about stress, they think about a crisis. A job loss. A health scare. A moment where everything falls apart.
But the stress that quietly wrecks most moms' health isn't dramatic. It's the low-grade, constant hum of managing everything for everyone, every single day.
It doesn't feel like stress after a while. It just feels like life.
Here's the problem: your nervous system doesn't know the difference between "I'm being chased" and "I have 47 things to manage before 3pm." To your body, both are threats. Both trigger the same stress response. And when that response never fully switches off, your body pays the price.
What Stress Is Actually Doing To You
This is where most coaches skip the real conversation. Chronic stress doesn't just make you feel overwhelmed. It physically changes what your body is able to do.
Elevated cortisol tells your body to hold onto fat, especially around the middle. It disrupts your sleep even when you're exhausted. It spikes cravings for sugar and processed food. It slows digestion. It tanks motivation. It makes you feel foggy, flat, and like you're running on empty no matter what you do.
So if you're eating well, working out consistently, going to bed on time, and still feeling stuck? Chronic stress is almost always part of the picture.
You can do everything else right and stress will quietly undo it.
The Physical Signs Most Moms Brush Off
These are the signals your body sends when stress has been running the show for too long:
Waking up between 2am and 4am.
A second wind at 10pm when you should be winding down.
Bloating that comes and goes without explanation.
Feeling wired and exhausted at the same time.
Irritability that surprises even you.
Sugar cravings every single afternoon.
None of these are personality flaws. They're your body asking for support.
What Actually Helped Me
Once I recognized what was happening, I stopped trying to just push through and started getting strategic about what I was carrying.
The first shift was asking myself one question whenever I felt overwhelmed: is this life or death?
The answer was almost always no. And that one question lowered the volume on things that had been taking up way too much mental space.
The second shift was my to-do list. Instead of staring at everything that needed to get done, I started picking my top three priorities for the day. Not ten. Not everything. Three. If I got those done and had time left, I could do more. But those three were the non-negotiables. That one change made me feel in control on even my hardest days, instead of behind before I'd even started.
The third shift was the most grounding of all. I got clear on my values and the order they sit in. My health is number one. My family is second. My business is third.
That hierarchy made every hard decision easier. When I know my health comes first, it's not selfish to protect it. It's just living in alignment with what I actually believe matters most. Picking your values is something I work on with my clients and for most moms, they either don't know their values or when they do, they are living way out of alignment from them, which will increase your stress levels.
3 Habits to Start Managing Stress This Week
Habit 1: Use the life or death question When stress spikes, pause and ask: is this actually life or death? If the answer is no, give it less energy. Most things on your list do not deserve the level of urgency your nervous system is giving them.
Habit 2: Pick your top 3 daily priorities Every morning, write down your top three. Take action on those first. Everything else is a bonus. Done consistently, this habit rebuilds a sense of control that chronic stress quietly strips away.
Habit 3: Get clear on your values and the order they sit in Write down what matters most to you. Put it somewhere visible. When the week gets chaotic, your values become the filter for every decision. This alone removes more stress than most people realize.
You Don't Need to Do Less. You Need a Smarter System.
Stress doesn't go away when life calms down. It goes away when you build the tools to manage it, and a life that's structured around what actually matters to you.
This is one of the six pillars we work through inside The Rebuilt Woman. Not bubble baths and massages (which are also great). A real, practical approach to identifying what's depleting you, delegating what doesn't need to be yours, and protecting the things that matter most.
If you've been running on stress for so long it just feels normal, it doesn't have to stay that way.
Book a free discovery call here. Let's look at what's actually on your plate and build a plan that gives you your energy back.
Kerri Brown is a certified holistic health coach with 15+ years of experience helping moms rebuild their strength, energy, and confidence. She is the founder of the Strong Mom Method, a 6 month coaching program built around the 6 pillars of health.
kbhealthcoach.ca | @kbhealthcoach
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