Healing Childhood Trauma

8 Ways you are living in your stress response [Ep 23]

• Lizandra Leigertwood • Season 1 • Episode 23

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In this episode, we're talking about something that so many people are living with daily—often without realising it: being stuck in the stress response.

From a trauma-informed perspective, this isn’t just about feeling busy or overwhelmed. Living in the stress response means your nervous system is constantly on high alert—operating from fight, flight, freeze, or fawn. It’s what happens when your body hasn’t had the chance to fully process and come out of past experiences that felt unsafe.

This chronic state can show up as anxiety, people-pleasing, shutdown, irritability, overthinking, or feeling like you can never relax—even when things are "fine."

Why is this important to understand?

Because when you’re living in the stress response, it shapes how you show up in relationships, work, parenting, and even how you relate to yourself. It becomes hard to trust yourself, make grounded decisions, or feel connected to others. And the worst part is—it can feel normal, because it’s what your system has gotten used to.

Understanding this from a trauma-informed lens helps take the shame out of it. You’re not broken or “too sensitive.” Your body has simply adapted to survive. And healing is not about pushing yourself to “calm down”—it’s about creating safety in your nervous system over time.

Tune in to learn more about what living in the stress response looks like, how to spot it in yourself, and what small steps you can start taking to come out of survival mode and into a more regulated, connected state.

Listen to episode 5 What Causes People Pleasing Behaviour