5 personality traits that predict how you handle stress.
Find yours in 30 seconds (and how to work with it) 🧵
First: the Big 5 are not “labels.”
They’re your nervous system’s default strategy.
When you're aware of your default strategy, you can build on it and let it empower you.
Let's dive in...
1. High Neuroticism = The Threat Sensor
When you're high on neuroticism, you feel everything early, before others. You're very sensitive.
The signs of Neuroticism are:
→ overthinking
→ health worries
→ tension & rumination
→ The inner feeling: “I can’t turn this off.”
Quick fixes:
Regulate first, analyze second.
One sure-fire way to regulate is to walk outdoors without devices.
You want to downshift your alarm system. Walking is primo.
Here’s why (7 reasons) and what actually works...🧵
1/ High-achievers learned to survive, not feel.
As children, we learn what brings success.
• Being impressive
• Being useful
• Being controlled
These personality performances work and we double down on them.
They kept us safe and allowed us to thrive.
Yet, later in life, we outgrow these performances.
But we don't know how to act any other way.
2/ Overthinking became their main coping strategy.
When feelings feel dangerous, your analytical mind takes over.
You begin ruminating and overthinking a decision.
You try to optimize the outcome by reviewing all potential outcomes.
You reframe the future over and over again endlessly.
It's exhausting.
But emotions don’t respond to logic.
They respond to felt experiences. Whole-body experiences.