Why Stress Makes You Dumber

and How I Bounced Back When I Dropped the Ball…

Most of us, including me, know what we can do to live a more peaceful, cohesive, happier life.

I am well aware that meditating every day brings down stress levels and increases well-being.

I know that when I eat well, I feel so much better. I know I need to exercise, drink enough water, ground in nature, journal… the list goes on.

As a working mother living in one of the world’s biggest cities (Istanbul), I cottoned on pretty quickly as to what tools were necessary for me to go from ‘surviving’ to ‘thriving.’

September aka ‘Stress-tember’

Despite this however, the start of the new term and a new working pattern has completely thrown any plans I had for self-care under the bus.

It turns out getting your children settled in a new class (after a pandemic) and in a second language, working in and outside of the home, and trying to move house is a full-time job all on its own. Who’d have thought?

Like so many women these days, I find myself in constant high alert fight-or-flight mode (tense shoulders, clamped jaw, jumping whenever my phone pings, snapping at my family, not sleeping well, etc.)