My company ran a stress management session last month, and out of the whole hour, the one thing that actually stuck with me wasn’t the breathing exercise or the slide about boundaries — it was one line about the jaw.
The facilitator said something like, “most people don’t notice stress landing in the body until it’s already tight,” and then pointed straight at the jaw and shoulders. Apparently that’s where a lot of it hides without us clocking it at all.
I’ve been trying to catch myself doing it ever since — mid-meeting, mid-email, whenever my shoulders start creeping up toward my ears. Some days I catch it early and just… let it go. Other days I don’t notice until my jaw actually aches by the time I get home, which tells me how long it’s probably been happening without me paying any attention.
It’s not fixing the stress itself, obviously — the job is still the job. But after years of just pushing through and not checking in with my own body at all, noticing anything feels like progress! I’m sticking with it for now, seeing where it goes.