24h Exit Guide – When It’s All Too Much

A soft exit for high-functioning women on the edge

It doesn’t start with collapse.

It begins with mornings you wake up already bracing.
Nights your mind loops.
Meetings where you smile but want to leave.
The soft ache of overfunctioning.

And the thought you push away:
“I don’t know how to keep doing this.”

This guide is for that moment.
When you know you need to exit, but there’s no space to fall apart.

Your nervous system is speaking. This is how you listen.

What is the 24h Exit Guide?

A trauma-informed, science-rooted ritual for high-pressure days.
For women who perform under stress and want to exit without breaking.
Use it whenever you sense you’re slipping out of yourself.

Why we created it

Because regulation isn’t a luxury.
It’s a biological threshold.

You don’t have to be better.
You need rhythm to return to.

Who it’s for

This guide is for you if:

• You’re in overdrive but can’t slow down
• You’re exhausted but still say yes
• Your body braces while your mind pushes
• You don’t need coaching—you need air

Download the 24h Exit Guide

Use it. Share it. Return to it.

This is part of a larger movement.
If you want more tools rooted in truth – and designed for women who lead with everything they’ve got:
→ Explore more tools

How does it work?

Each step speaks to your nervous system, not your to-do list.

Step 1 – Let Go
Breath and touch activate the vagus nerve.
You feel your way in.
Science says: Touch and breath activate the vagus nerve, the body’s built-in calm button (Polyvagal Theory, Porges).

Step 2 – Ground Yourself
Naming what’s real reduces mental noise.
Writing lowers cognitive noise and restores clarity.
Science says: Naming and expressive writing help regulate emotions and quiet the inner critic (Pennebaker, Siegel).

Step 3 – Micro-Move
Tiny actions restore agency.
This is called behavioral activation.
Small act. Big shift.
Science says: Even the smallest action can interrupt passivity and bring back self-efficacy (Behavioral Activation, CBT).

Step 4 – Interrupt the Loop
Sensory input overrides mental spirals.
Bottom-up regulation helps your body feel safe
before your brain can reframe.
Science says: Senses interrupt mental spirals—regulation happens from the body up (Embodiment research, somatic science).

Step 5 – End Differently
Reframing creates narrative resilience.
It’s not about perfection.
It’s about finding a kinder ending.
Science says: Shifting your story helps close the loop, making resilience possible (Narrative psychology).

What does it actually change? Where are its limits?

The 24h Exit Guide is a powerful tool for acute moments:
It can lower stress, break mental spirals, and help you regain a sense of control in overwhelming situations.
For many, it offers a moment of self-compassion and clarity—sometimes just enough to move forward.

But there are limits:
This guide is not therapy and it can’t solve structural overload, chronic stress, or trauma on its own.
In cases of severe crisis or persistent distress, real healing may require more: support, boundaries, and sometimes help from outside.

What remains:
This guide is not a cure. It’s a reset.
It gives you a pause, a landing place, and sometimes—
the clarity to choose your next step with more awareness.

You’re not alone in this. Every time you pause, you’re breaking a pattern the system taught you.

Want to dive deeper?

Regulation & the Nervous System

• Stephen Porges: The Polyvagal Theory: Neurophysiological Foundations of Emotions, Attachment, Communication, Self-Regulation (2011)
  (The scientific foundation of self-regulation via the nervous system.)

Writing, Naming & Emotional Processing

• James Pennebaker: Opening Up by Writing It Down (2016)
  (Why writing and naming emotions powerfully support self-regulation.)
• Dan Siegel: Mindsight: The New Science of Personal Transformation (2010)
  (Emotional self-leadership, integration, and mindful awareness.)

Micro-Moves & Behavioral Activation

• Christopher Martell, Sona Dimidjian, Ruth Herman-Dunn: Behavioral Activation for Depression: A Clinician's Guide (2010)
  (How small actions can create significant change in mood and agency.)

Embodiment & Trauma Sensitivity

• Bessel van der Kolk: The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma (2014)
  (Body-based trauma healing—why the body stores emotional memory.)
• Peter Levine: Waking the Tiger: Healing Trauma (1997)
  (Working with the body and somatic awareness to resolve trauma.)

Narrative, Meaning & Resilience

• Emily Esfahani Smith: The Power of Meaning: Finding Fulfillment in a World Obsessed with Happiness (2017)
  (How meaning and personal narrative support resilience and fulfillment.)
• Dan P. McAdams: The Stories We Live By: Personal Myths and the Making of the Self (1997)
  (How life stories and inner myths shape identity and wellbeing.)