Your stress response may have been set before you ever had a say in it.

Trauma exposure before age 10 results in sensitivity where the brain’s amygdala (fear center) and prefrontal cortex (rational thought) are extremely vulnerable to alterations from early-life trauma and stress.

This means that you are programmed from an early age to figure out how to cope with those traumatic events, which may lead, as an adult, to depression, anxiety, burnout, addiction, and other conditions.

So, if you experienced any childhood trauma or life-altering changes, you may be wondering why you end up having a lot of stress and extreme reactions to stress, like panic attacks and anxiety.

It’s important for you to know that – Your stress response isn’t random.
It was shaped early—often before you even realized it.

Hi, I’m Danna Campbell, Founder of The Balance Reset. The goal of The Balance Reset is to help high-performing over-committed women who are suffering from stress or burnout reclaim their time, energy, and control of their lives without guilt.

There was a point in my life when I started to realize that my reactions to stress weren’t random.

I grew up in a chaotic, sometimes violent household. From a very young age, I learned how to protect myself—by going quiet, becoming invisible, and not expressing how I felt.

And that worked… for a long time.

But as an adult, I started to see the patterns.

When things felt uncertain or overwhelming, I would shut down.
I wouldn’t eat—I just didn’t have an appetite.
And I tried to control everything through perfectionism.

So when it came time to make bigger decisions—to change direction, to take risks—the “what ifs” were loud.

Not because I didn’t know what I wanted…
But because I didn’t trust myself to handle what might happen next.

And that’s when it clicked for me—

The fear wasn’t about the change.
It was about whether I believed I could handle it.

And once I understood that… everything started to make more sense.

Because when you experience stress early in life, it doesn’t just stay in the past.

It shapes how your nervous system responds… even now.

WHAT ARE SURVIVAL MODE SYMPTOMS

Survival mode is your body’s response to stress. It can sometimes be traumatic events, and your brain is booted up into survival mode to make sure you are vigilant to take care of yourself.

Or you may have constant levels of “lower-level stress” for extended periods of time. This happens to so many of us with work, families, illness, and we sometimes don’t realize that what is happening to our bodies is chronic stress, which is heading into burnout.

At that point, you may not feel like yourself anymore. You may be forgetting to eat, feeling exhausted all the time, struggling to remember things, having trouble sleeping, and struggling to make decisions.

THE RESET

REPROGRAM YOUR REACTION TO STRESS

It’s not too late to reprogram your response to stress to alleviate those symptoms of survival mode and overload.

Here are a few things you can try in the short term to get started.

First – Acknowledge that you are in survival mode. Awareness of the problem is always the beginning of the solution. Take the time to sit and be aware that it’s ok that you are here because you are taking action. It takes a lot of courage to face the fact that you have been struggling for so long.

Second – Begin some self-care baby steps. This means taking a look at your day, diet, and exercise. I developed a freebie for you at the end of this talk for you to download with the first steps on self-care. It’s called The Seven-Day Balance Reset. It gives gentle, guided steps that don’t require a lot of time but help you start to focus on YOU.

Third – Make a list of things that start to trigger you into stress and that survival mode we talked about. It may be that social media keeps you stimulated and doesn’t allow you time to rest or reflect on yourself. Maybe people asking you for help at work or home, and you say Yes to everything, is a trigger. Or maybe you are in a toxic relationship or friends with someone who takes everything and doesn’t give back. All of these are things that trigger your stress and exhaustion. Start to think about how you would feel if you could avoid these triggers.

MOVE FORWARD WITH INTENTION

Understanding where your stress and burnout come from isn’t about blame.

It’s about finally making sense of yourself so you can start planning your future life that is free of a survival model based on historical triggers.

Remember – trauma creates changes you did not choose when you were younger. Healing from that trauma is about creating changes that you choose.

You’re in charge of your life now.

Prefer to watch instead of read? The full video is below:

If you are interested in talking about these changes you want to make in your life, I would love to talk with you and get to know you. Click the link to my calendar below and let’s connect!

https://thebalancereset.hbportal.co/schedule/69ac8481a6a76a0024cacae4

I’m so excited that you are choosing YOU, and I want to help you get there. This is the first day of your reset journey!

I look forward to connecting with you soon, and I will see you next week.

With love,

Danna – CEO & Founder | The Balance Reset | thebalancereset.com