The Real Work with Maggie Sterling

17 - You're Not Lazy, You're Overstimulated

9 snips
Dec 8, 2025
Are you tired but feel lazy? You're not lazy; your nervous system might be overstimulated. Discover how chronic overstimulation drains your energy without you realizing it. Internal stress, hypervigilance, and constant stimulation can deplete your capacity, leaving you exhausted. Learn to differentiate between functional freeze and full freeze, and understand why compassion for your history is crucial. Maggie offers practical advice to reduce input and rebuild your energy, inviting you to stop fighting against yourself.
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INSIGHT

Exhaustion Reflects Cumulative Stress

  • Feeling exhausted often reflects cumulative stress, not today's activity.
  • Maggie Sterling explains internal energy can be burned by hypervigilance and overstimulation.
INSIGHT

Wired And Tired Means Low Capacity

  • Overstimulation creates a wired-and-tired state with low capacity for daily stressors.
  • This leaves people living close to the edge where small triggers cause big reactions.
ADVICE

Lower Input To Rebuild Capacity

  • Reduce internal and external input to rebuild capacity and resilience.
  • Focus on soft, gradual regulation rather than forcing productivity to recover energy.
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