Under the warm shower, you take a deep breath and are determined that today will be different. “Today, stay calm; don’t let stress get to you,” you remind yourself. But as soon as you step out of the shower, your phone rings with an urgent call from a sick employee. You can't find your car keys anywhere, which makes you stuck in traffic and late for your first appointment. By late morning, unexpected problems pile up at work—deadlines, meetings, demands from every direction. You feel the tension in your chest and jaw, and the calm you felt in the shower is gone. As you head home in the evening, you feel exhausted and wonder why staying calm seems so impossible sometimes.

After a long day, you collapse on the couch, exhausted. Finally, a moment of peace. But then your phone pings: an email from your boss with an urgent request. Your stomach tightens. You know it can wait until tomorrow, but anxiety instantly creeps in. “I have to deal with this now,” you think. Your husband gently asks, “Can’t it wait?” But you shake your head, the tension taking over. While he puts on a relaxing movie, you head upstairs with a sigh. Instead of the relaxation you desperately need, you’re back at your laptop, tired and stressed.

You're lying awake in the middle of the night, tossing and turning under the covers. Your boss's words keep replaying in your mind. Did you handle it the right way? You want to come across as confident, but now you're stuck overthinking what you should have said. The hours tick by as your heart races and your thoughts won’t settle. You know you need to be sharp tomorrow, but sleep seems out of reach for now.

You’re in a meeting when a colleague makes a comment about one of your team members. You feel attacked and snap back that if your colleague had managed things better, you wouldn’t be in this situation. Your colleague looks at you, surprised, and calmly says that they didn’t mean it unkindly but rather as a concern to protect your team member. But maybe you should take a closer look at it together. You feel awkward and notice you’re starting to blush. You realize you reacted too quickly and emotionally, and you feel embarrassed.

Your heart sinks as you read the employee satisfaction scores. They’ve dropped compared to last year. Rationally, you know the scores are still strong, even better than many other teams, but that doesn’t matter right now. All you can focus on is the dip. The fear of not being good enough gnaws at you. You pride yourself on excellence, and now doubt creeps in. 'What did I do wrong?' You try to hide your frustration, but inside, your wrestling with insecurity and the pressure to always exceed expectations.