The Little Stress We Carry: Learning to Return to Balance
A few mornings ago, I was walking through the park before starting my day with clients.
The sun was coming through the trees. The air was cool. The birds were having what sounded like a very important morning meeting.
And there I was…
surrounded by nature, thinking about my schedule.
Clients to see. Calls to return. Projects waiting for attention. All the little things that somehow find a way to take up space in our minds.
I actually laughed when I noticed it.
Here I was teaching people about mindfulness, nervous system balance, and being present — while mentally I was already somewhere else.
Welcome to being human.
One of the biggest things I’ve learned from more than fifty years of coaching and my own journey through athletics, injuries, surgeries, recovery, and rebuilding is that stress is not always one big event.
Often, it’s the small things we carry all day without realizing it.
The email we read but haven’t answered.
The conversation we keep replaying.
The traffic we sat in.
The deadline tomorrow.
The five-minute task that has somehow lived rent-free in our mind for three days.
Individually, these moments seem small.
But the body is always listening.
Over time, the nervous system begins adapting to what we repeatedly practice.
If we spend most of our day rushing, anticipating, and reacting, the body becomes very skilled at staying ready for the next challenge.
This is the survival state.
And sometimes it becomes so familiar that we mistake it for normal.
We forget what calm feels like.
We forget what a deep breath feels like.
We forget what it’s like to simply notice the sunlight coming through the trees.
The beautiful thing is the body can remember.
It doesn’t always require a dramatic change.
Sometimes it begins with something very simple.
A slower breath before opening the next email.
Feeling your feet connected to the ground.
Walking outside for five minutes without looking at your phone.
Listening to one bird instead of hearing “birds.”
Creating small moments where your nervous system receives the message:
I’m safe.
I can recover.
I can reset.
This has always been at the heart of my work with Comprehensive Athletic Training.
Yes, we build strength.
Yes, we improve movement.
Yes, we work on performance.
But sustainable performance is never just about doing more.
It’s about creating a body and mind capable of fully experiencing everything we are working so hard to achieve.
After decades of working with athletes, professionals, and people rebuilding their health, one lesson continues to come back:
The body usually whispers before it shouts.
The question is whether we are willing to listen.
So sometime today, maybe take a moment and ask yourself:
Am I moving through my day in survival mode…
or am I creating space to truly thrive?
Sometimes the smallest moments of awareness create the biggest changes.
Sustainable Recovery → Sustainable Performance → Sustainable Living
With aloha,
Michael Holland, MS
Founder — Comprehensive Athletic Training
Helping professionals and developing athletes build sustainable performance through mindful movement, intelligent strength, recovery, and nervous system balance.