Editing Your Stress Bucket (Stress Bucket Series – Part 4)
Episode 40: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | YouTube
View transcript on Buzzsprout
This is the final post in our four-part Stress Bucket Series—a practical framework for identifying, understanding, and managing the stressors that fill your system. If you haven’t yet listened to the first three episodes, pause here and start with Episode 37 to fully explore your own bucket.
Today, we explore the final and most actionable piece: how to edit your stress bucket. Not in a one-time purge—but as an ongoing practice that honors your nervous system, your values, and your actual life.
Click here to download the Stress Bucket Workbook Freebie!
What We Cover in This Episode
- What it means to “edit” your stress bucket and why it matters
- The power of small changes over time
- How to use the 3Ds: Delete, Delegate, Do Differently
- Applying filters like core values and controllables
- Why editing is both a practice and a skill
Why Editing Stress Is Hard—But Necessary
We live in a world that worships productivity. Even those of us deep in healing work still fall into the trap of measuring our worth by how much we can get done. Amanda shares a personal story of catching herself spiraling into guilt for not doing more—even on a very productive day. It’s a reminder that unlearning these patterns is a process.
Editing your stress bucket is not about doing more in less time. It’s about pausing to ask: What truly matters? What am I carrying that isn’t mine to hold? And perhaps most importantly: How do I want to feel as I move through my life?
What Belongs in Your Bucket (And What Doesn’t)
Some stressors belong because they’re part of your reality. Like parenting, past surgeries, or a mouse in your house (yes, really). Others belong because they’re aligned with your values and identity.
But so much of what weighs us down isn’t truly ours. It’s inherited. Modeled. Internalized. The story that a “good mom” does X. That being agreeable is safer than setting boundaries. Editing is about returning to your own definition of enough.
Amanda invites listeners to check in: What if I don’t have to do more? What if I already am enough? That shift alone can open space.
The Practice of Editing
Editing is not a one-time event. It happens daily, weekly, seasonally. Amanda walks through both macro and micro approaches:
- Macro: Making big-picture changes to your schedule, commitments, or roles
- Micro: Waking up and honoring that 30% capacity means 30% effort that day
The key is honesty. Get real about your bandwidth today, not the version of you that has unlimited energy or zero sleep disruptions. This is where most people start to feel relief: when they match expectations to their actual nervous system capacity.
Filters for Editing: Control, Values, and the 3Ds
To help you edit, Amanda offers several filters:
- Controllables, Uncontrollables, Kind-of-Controllables: Identify what you can shift, what you can’t, and what you might be able to influence indirectly.
- Core Values & Authentic Self: Does this stressor align with who you are and what matters most?
- The 3Ds: Delete, Delegate, Do Differently. A simple but potent framework for trimming the load.
One tip? Start with your daily stressors. Break them down into tasks and sub-tasks. Look at every step. Where could you simplify or outsource? Amanda shares her own examples, like delegating yard work and using grocery pickup.
Inside the Regulated Living Membership, we explore tools like these weekly so you can build a lifestyle that fits your nervous system—not the other way around.
The Add Box: What Lightens the Load
Editing isn’t just about removing. It’s also about adding the things that help you carry what remains. That might be:
- Better sleep
- Supportive routines
- Visual reminders of joy
- Nutrient-dense meals
The goal? Create more space and a bigger buffer zone in your life. That’s how you start to feel like an active participant again, not just someone reacting to everything thrown your way.
Three Tangible Takeaways
- Regulated living requires ongoing editing. Stressors will keep coming. Your job is to get better at filtering them.
- Use the 3Ds. Start with one tiny thing you can delete, delegate, or do differently.
- Own your “no.” Saying no protects what you want to say yes to. Choose one small edit this week that makes space for what matters.
Looking for more personalized support?
- Book a FREE discovery call for RESTORE, our 1:1 anxiety & depression coaching program (HSA/FSA eligible & includes comprehensive bloodwork)
- Join me inside the Regulated Living Membership, a mental health membership and nervous system healing space (sliding scale pricing available)
- Join my Release Class – Monthly guided nervous system regulation class
- Order my book, Healing Through the Vagus Nerve today!
- Download free resources here
*Want me to talk about something specific on the podcast? Let me know HERE.
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or qualified mental health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.
