Small Shifts: Three things you've called normal
This fortnight's Small Shift, Big Impact is for the symptoms you've stopped questioning. The mid-afternoon crash. The racing mind at bedtime. The gut issues after a meal. Most of us have just normalised them.
Pick one, just one, for the next two weeks.
- The Lunch Reset
- The Body Scan
- The Pattern Watch
1. The Lunch Reset
You hit the wall mid-afternoon, reach for something quick and sweet, and quietly add it to the list of things you wish you didn't do.
It isn't the snack. When meals are skipped or squeezed in at the desk, your nervous system may stay activated, and by mid-afternoon or evening it may be asking for the fastest fuel it knows.
The reach for sugar isn't something you're doing wrong. It might be your body trying to fill in for a meal that didn't do its job.
How to build it:
A lunch that holds the afternoon together has four parts.
- Protein (eggs, tinned fish, chicken, tofu, chickpeas, tempeh)
- Fibre base (wholegrain wrap, brown rice, quinoa, lentils, or two or more vegetables)
- Something fresh (greens, cucumber, tomato, herbs)
- A flavour anchor (hummus, tahini, extra virgin olive oil and lemon)
Assemble it once at the start of the week. Vary the protein and the base. The structure stays the same.
2. The Body Scan
You're exhausted by nine but the moment you lie down your body switches on. Mind racing, every unfinished thing arriving at once.
This usually isn't a sleep problem. Your nervous system may not have had a chance to come down during the day, so it's still holding everything it picked up.
We don't notice the jaw clenched since the morning meeting. The shoulders sitting two inches higher than they should. The fists tightened under the doona.
A short body scan in bed may help you find that tension. Once you find it, your body often releases it on its own. Noticing is the practice.
How to practise it:
- In bed with the lights off or dimmed, take a slow breath
- Move your attention slowly from head to feet
- Notice your jaw, shoulders, chest, belly, hands, legs
- Where there's holding, see if you can exhale into the area and let it soften
Most nights you'll find tension you didn't know was there.
3. The Pattern Watch
You've cut out the dairy. Tried less gluten. Blamed the coffee, the late dinner, the second glass of wine. The gut issues still come.
Your digestive system has its own nervous system, with more nerve endings than your spinal cord. When your body senses a threat, whether that's a deadline or the mental load of holding everyone's schedule, it shifts resources away from digestion. Survival first.
The catch is your nervous system was built for short, sharp threats. Run from the danger, then recover. Modern stress doesn't work that way. The deadline doesn't pass. The mental load doesn't switch off. So your body may stay in the same response pattern, hour after hour. Tiger or Tuesday, the signal looks the same.
The question isn't always what did I eat? Sometimes it's what nervous system state was I in when I ate it?
How to practise it:
- When gut symptoms show up, pause
- Look back at the day. Rushed? Heavy? Running on adrenaline?
- Look at the meal. Standing at the bench? In the car? Eyes on a screen?
- Track loosely. A note on your phone is enough
You might start to notice a pattern that has less to do with food and more to do with your nervous system. Food may still play a role, but stress often does too.
This pattern, a symptom you've stopped questioning, a cause you hadn't connected, a small habit that holds, is what From Exhausted to Energised does for ten weeks.
Pick One. Just One.
Choose one habit. Write it down like this:
SPECIFIC HABIT: "Starting Monday, I will assemble my lunch with eggs, hummus and salad in a wrap before I sit down to start work."
Specific habits remove the guesswork. Vague intentions leave too much to decide when you're already tired.
Habits take 66 days on average to become automatic. Give yourself the time.
Which one are you choosing? Hit reply and tell me.
P.S. The From Exhausted to Energised beta cohort starts on 18 May 2026. If anything in this edition felt familiar, this is the program built for it. Reply with "tell me more" for the details. The next intake won't open until later in the year, at full price.
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