Life By Design Therapy

  Finding the line between professional responsibility and personal peace can be one of the greatest challenges in our modern "always-on" culture. How do you signal to your brain that the workday is officially over? Tips for your transition tonight: 📌 Create a Physical Signal: Change your clothes, take a walk, or put your phone in a dedicated drawer. 📌 Regulate with Rhythm: Use music to help your body physically decompress from the day’s pace. 📌 Release the Guilt: Practice viewing "unproductive" time as a vital investment in your mental health. At Life By Design Therapy ™ , we believe that true restoration isn't just about closing your laptop; it’s about intentionally shifting your nervous system from a state of "doing" to a state of "being." When we carry the mental load of the office into our evenings, our bodies remain in a high-alert state, leading to burnout and emotional exhaustion. Our therapists support clients in developing person...

  Overwhelm isn’t just a sign that you have too much to do. It’s a signal from your nervous system that it’s carrying more than it can safely hold. When your body is stuck in survival mode, it doesn’t need more pressure, it needs regulation. Here are 6 somatic hacks I use (and share with clients) to help shift out of overwhelm and back into a sense of steadiness: 🌿 Start with grounding, not scrolling – Begin your day with breath, touch, or movement before diving into stimulation. 🌿 Anchor your day with regulation breaks – Tiny pauses between tasks help your system reset before it crashes. 🌿 Move your body in gentle, consistent ways – Think swaying, stretching, or slow walks. Not intensity, but connection. 🌿 Prioritize safety cues in your environment – Soothing light, soft textures, grounding scents…all of it matters. 🌿 Include transitions for emotional decompression – Create space between roles. Let your body exhale before shifting gears. 🌿 End the day with self-soothin...

  How to Manage Stress and Prevent Burnout in the Workplace It started on a Wednesday. I was sitting at my desk, halfway through a meeting, when I realized I hadn’t stopped all morning. My inbox was overflowing, my shoulders ached, and my brain was locked on one thought: “Just get through the day.” Sound familiar? Workplace stress has become so normalized that many of us don’t notice how much it’s draining our energy and dysregulating our nervous system, until we’re completely depleted. While many of us desire to be okay and live with a sense of purpose and peace, it’s hard to regulate and find those moments in the midst of hustle culture.  If this is resonating with you, I want to remind you that you cannot continue to push through and find that sense of peace. Regulating comes from slowing down, creating space for rest, and allowing your body to return to balance. The good news? You can learn to manage stress and prevent burnout from work.  If you’ve been struggling to...

  How  to  Use  Affirmations  to  Build  Self-Worth I often see people come into sessions feeling defeated by their own inner dialogue. They’ve tried to shift it by trying positive affirmations, but the words don’t seem to land. If you’ve ever said an affirmation like, “I am enough,” only to feel discomfort, disbelief, or even shame in response, there are so many people who feel the same way. However, I want you to know that you’re not doing it wrong. The response you feel can be deeply informative. It tells you something about your nervous system and how it’s been shaped by past experiences. “Your self-worth isn’t just a mindset. It’s a lived experience in the body” When your nervous system has learned to be hypervigilant, shut down, or stuck in survival mode, it’s not concerned with worthiness. It’s focused on protection. This means that trying to think your way into self-worth with affirmations can feel jarring, even threatening, if your body doesn...

  There’s something about the quiet after the holidays that can feel both peaceful and heavy. The lights come down, the house feels still, and all that energy that carried you through December starts to fade. You might notice a dip in motivation or find yourself feeling flat, restless, or even a little lost. And you might have caught yourself wondering, Why do I feel this way after such a joyful time? Many people experience what’s often called the post-holiday slump, which is an emotional… Read More https://www.lifebydesigntherapy.com/blog/the-post-holiday-slump-why-you-feel-off-after-the-holidays-and-how-to-recover

  There’s a moment many people don’t talk about enough, in my opinion. The moment when nothing is technically wrong, but your body won’t settle. Work is over, yet your chest feels tight. You finally sit down, and your mind starts racing. You’re exhausted, but rest feels out of reach. If this sounds familiar, it doesn’t mean you’re bad at managing stress. It usually means your nervous system has been carrying more than it knows how to put down, and it’s asking for support. Not in the form of advice. Not in the form of “just relax.” Read More https://www.lifebydesigntherapy.com/blog/grounding-techniques-to-calm-your-nervous-system

  I used to think disconnecting after work meant closing my laptop. Logging off. Turning notifications to silent. And jumping into the next duty of parenthood and partnership.  But…my body didn’t get the memo. I’d be physically home, but mentally replaying emails. Emotionally bracing for tomorrow.  Sometimes I’d find myself tense for no obvious reason and snapping at the people I loved most. If you’re anything like me, you may relate to the feeling that your workday has ended, but your nervous system is still bracing like it hasn’t. And that’s a very different problem. If this sounds familiar, I understand, and here are a few tools that can support your nervous system out of work mode.   Why You Still Feel Stressed After Work Ends From a somatic, and body-based perspective, it’s not that you don’t know how to relax. Your nervous system simply hasn’t shifted out of work mode yet. Throughout the day, your body is responding to things like: The steady stream of ema...