Much of modern-day living involves doing, achieving, having goals or missions — to be slimmer, to be fitter, to renovate the house, to plan holidays or future work. Goodness me, I’m exhausted just writing the list of “doing”... but if we stop to consider why we are always doing, what is our ulterior motive? I would say the answer for most of us circles around living a life of meaning — being happy, leaving a legacy for the next generation, having enough money to retire comfortably — and if we go even deeper: happiness and contentment.

But to have these things, sometimes we need to stop, slow down, and take some time to consider ourselves. Some of our biological mechanisms are not wired for this constant doing. Activities that require continuous effort can depend on adrenaline, an excitatory neurotransmitter. You know that adrenaline high — if you’re a speed junkie, a runner, or simply someone who gets excited easily.

Often associated with the fight-or-flight response, adrenaline prepares the body to flee or be powerful, and it interplays with dopamine — our neurotransmitter linked to motivation, pleasure, and reward.

Firstly, I want to unpick the effect of frequent stress on the body. Adrenaline is released immediately when the body perceives threats or stress — and in modern life, that can mean daily demands. After the initial adrenaline surge (which provides immediate energy to flee danger), cortisol levels rise. Cortisol isn’t all bad, but you don’t want it to be elevated too often because it causes spikes in blood sugar to help sustain the energy needed for survival.

However, in our modern world, that blood sugar often doesn’t get used — there’s no actual danger requiring physical effort — and normally, insulin would step in to lower it. But if adrenaline is still high, insulin can become suppressed. The ongoing effects of raised cortisol and adrenaline can lead to inflammation, dysregulated blood sugar, and fat storage around the middle and this can eventually impact blood pressure and cholesterol.

While adrenaline can boost dopamine and increase motivation at first, chronic stress can impair dopamine production over time. This may lead to behaviours like anhedonia — where pleasure is hard to feel and motivation is low. You might begin seeking dopamine through things like social media, alcohol, or food. These habits can interfere with achieving your to-do list and result in frustration, low mood, and even a sense of worthlessness.

So, you can see — always “doing” and living in a high-stress state isn’t helping your long-term goals.

What’s the solution? Stop constantly doing — and start being.

You might think, “She must practise this all the time and really have her act together.” I don’t! I constantly have to remind myself to get off the hamster wheel of doing and come back to being. It’s hard. I’m driven and passionate about what I do. I’m always racing to learn more, exercise more, cook more, post better content, tidy the house, do the garden, and tackle some DIY. I exhaust myself some days — and then I berate myself when only half the to-do list is done.

Oh yes, I’m human. I get it. But I’m learning. I know that when I do things like yoga, meditation, forest bathing, or spend mindful time with friends, it restores my positive energy — especially when I reinforce it with journaling. But I think the biggest thing for me is the leap of faith it takes to understand that calming my nervous system helps my metabolism. And when I look at my genetic report, I know my metabolism isn’t fantastic — cortisol tends to stay elevated, and this affects my motivation to get to the gym, go for a walk, or do the things my body needs to feel centred.

This is, in part, how our retreat — Nourish, Thrive and Energise — came to be. It’s a space where you can be. A place to learn how important being is for your long-term health.
To discover which foods calm the nervous system.
To find out what kind of yoga works for you.
To walk through the beautiful autumn landscape of the Yorkshire Dales, grounded in the moment.
And to join our cosy evening chats as we explore the deeper paths to happiness and contentment in life.