A free guide from Summer Tree Therapy

7 Signs You're Stuck in a Chronic Survival Mode

For the ones who feel like a mess inside

Welcome to Summer Tree Therapy! I'm Laney - Licensed Professional Counselor and chronic stress nerd! Why would someone want to study chronic stress? Because I know what it's like! The always on, constant scanning, analyzing to the point of paralysis all while looking “cool, calm, collected” - except to your inner circle… or in those moments the cracks start to show… or once it all comes crashing down.

Staying stuck in fight/flight/freeze states isn't just uncomfortable, it's damaging. Sooner or later our body & mind will say “no more” and the systems of people around us will have their own reactions. We know this and those feared reactions are often part of the fuel to keep stressing. So let's stop driving ourselves based on the what if's and start listening to what is keeping us from more access to the state of calm, safe connection.

Below are some common signs of being stuck in chronic survival mode. Note which ones you are experiencing - it may be a few or you may relate to them all. Either way, this is not a checklist of flaws. It's evidence of a nervous system that learned along the way that it was no longer safe to stand down.

The 7 signs

  1. You can't fully relax, even when you know nothing is currently wrong.Rest doesn't feel right. There's always a part of you scanning for evidence - what you should be doing, what might happen, you must be forgetting something. You've not earned the right to recover.
  2. You're tired but wired.Your body is exhausted. You want to sleep but you might as well doom scroll because your mind sure is.
  3. You feel responsible for everything and everyone.You're the one who holds it together. If you can't do it, no one can. If you don't do it, there will be consequences. So work harder. It's all on you… even when it's not.
  4. Slowing down brings guilt, not relief.Downtime makes you restless or anxious, like you are violating a moral obligation. You are a human doing, not a human being. So change out that battery Mr/Ms Robot. Power up and get going.
  5. Small things feel bigger than they should.A minor setback, another scheduling change or even the ding of one more notification can set off a wave of stress. Your system is fried and you are running on fumes.
  6. You've normalized a level of stress that isn't healthy.Running hot has become your baseline. You've been driving this way for so long you've forgotten what going with the flow can feel like. Bonus: you do not understand what everyone else's problem is.
  7. You've tried to manage it, but never resolve it.Exercise, planners, the occasional (non)break, the “I don't have a problem” coping — they take the edge off, but the underlying tension grows. Managing isn't the same as healing.

You've been stuck in survival long enough

You know this isn't sustainable. You read the self help books for tools. You did the traditional therapy for a bit. You aren't getting to the root of the issue. It's time to go deeper and therapy intensives offer focused, uninterrupted time to gain traction and momentum toward real change. If these signs feel familiar, a free 15-minute consult is a no-pressure first step.

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Laney Bassham, MS, LPC | Root Work Psychotherapist | Teletherapy across Texas