I’ve been dealing with a lot of stressful things lately and seems that my ‘stress response’ is more extreme and easily provoked than ever before.
I know there are multiple factors, but I realized that a big factor is a very deep very big and very valid fear that I won’t take are of myself.
A fear that I’ll ignore my own needs, overlook my pain, dismiss my desires in order to

  • take emotional responsibility for others
  • caretake people who could be taking care of themselves
  • avoid conflict
  • not make others uncomfortable
  • be "good"
I'm working actively on not living that way anymore but I have a long history of it, so makes sense that I don't quite trust myself yet. And when scary or stressful things come up, there's a deep question: will I do what I need to do for myself, or will I pretend I don't have needs/wants/pain?
Every day that I'm consistent in moving toward my own goals, being kind to myself, putting my priorities first, not overextending, saying No when I need to, etc. ... is a day I earn back trust in myself.