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Stress
Most people carry stress at different points in their lives. Sometimes it's brief and clearly linked to a specific event. At other times it builds over months or years, and what begins as manageable pressure hardens into something more wearing — sleep becomes lighter, patience shortens, concentration slips.
Stress is not weakness. It is the body and mind responding to sustained demand.
Work is a common source. Responsibility increases, expectations stretch, and the pace rarely slows. It makes little difference whether you're leading an organisation or starting your career — pressure operates at every level. Outside work, relationships, financial strain, bereavement, caring responsibilities and major life transitions all add load. Even positive change can tax capacity. The tipping point is often cumulative rather than dramatic.
In my experience, stress becomes more corrosive when it intersects with longstanding patterns. A strong sense of duty. Reluctance to disappoint. High standards that leave little margin for error. These traits are often associated with competence and reliability — and usually they are exactly that. Over time, though, they can reduce flexibility in ways that are hard to notice until the system is already running hot.
The effects are both psychological and physical. Sleep fragments. Energy fluctuates unpredictably. Irritability increases while motivation drops. You may notice you're not your usual self — that decisions feel heavier, that recovery between difficult patches is taking longer than it should.
When stress becomes chronic, perspective compresses. Problems seem more urgent than they are. The system stops resetting properly between demands.
Therapy offers space to examine both the external pressures and the internal patterns that amplify them. My approach is formulation-led — we look at what's driving the strain, how you're responding to it, and what assumptions may be adding to the load. Sometimes that leads to practical changes around boundaries and workload. Sometimes it means revisiting expectations that were formed a long time ago and never re-evaluated in light of who you are now.
The aim isn't to eliminate pressure — adult life will always contain demand. It's to restore proportion and flexibility, so that challenge doesn't automatically translate into sustained depletion.
Progress tends to show up in steadiness returning. Sleep deepens. Energy becomes more predictable. Decisions feel less charged. The sense that you can meet difficulty without being overwhelmed begins to come back.
If you're experiencing severe physical symptoms or acute distress, it's important to speak to your GP. Sudden or significant changes in physical wellbeing should always be medically assessed. Therapy works on the pattern beneath the strain; physical health needs its own attention.
Living under prolonged stress can reshape how capable you feel — and it tends to affect those around you too. Partners, colleagues and children often absorb more of the impact than we realise. In our work together, we start by understanding the structure of the current load and then make deliberate adjustments — in boundaries, expectations and relational dynamics — so that resilience is rebuilt rather than gradually worn away.
If you're thinking about therapy, the first step is simply a conversation. We'd talk about what has been building and whether working together feels right. Stress is common. The way it has taken shape in your life is particular to you.
Psychotherapy, Counselling & Coaching in Shoreham-by-Sea & Online