When you’ve been under stress for long enough, your body stops waiting for the emergency to end. It adapts. And what looks like irritability, numbness, exhaustion, or constant alertness is often a nervous system that’s been doing its job for too long without relief.

In this Hall Pass episode, we talk about what chronic stress actually does to educators, why “just resting” doesn’t fix it, and how burnout lives in the body—not just the mind. This isn’t about bubble baths or toxic positivity. It’s about learning how to signal safety again, rebuild capacity slowly, and stop blaming yourself for reactions that make sense given what you’ve been carrying.

If you feel stuck in survival mode, this episode offers a grounded, compassionate starting point for healing—without pretending you can opt out of the system overnight.