do you ever feel so stressed out that you freeze?

There are nights when I open my laptop to write an essay, only to find myself staring at the blinking cursor for 45 minutes. Notifications pile up. My planner is compiled of unchecked boxes. Exams loom. Friends text. Life keeps going, and I... don’t.

Not because I’m lazy. Not because I don’t care. But because the pressure gets so loud that my brain just… shuts down.

This is something psychologists refer to as stress-induced executive dysfunction, where high levels of mental and emotional overload essentially short-circuit your brain’s ability to make decisions, initiate tasks, or prioritize anything at all. It’s not just procrastination. It’s neurological. It's your prefrontal cortex, the part responsible for logic and planning, getting hijacked by your nervous system's emergency signals.

In simpler terms? You’re not “choosing” to be unproductive. Your brain is hitting the brakes to keep you safe from perceived danger, even if that “danger” is just five unread Canvas announcements and an unfinished paper.

Being a college student trying to juggle everything, grades, deadlines, a social life, showing up for yourself, staying creative, and staying sane, it gets intense. Sometimes so intense that I find myself doing nothing at all. I doomscroll on TikTok. I take a nap. I daydream about a version of me who’s already finished everything. And then I feel guilty. And the cycle continues.

But here's what I'm learning, slowly: freezing isn't failure. It's a sign. A message from your nervous system that says, “You’re doing too much. Please slow down.”

And when you meet that frozen moment with self-compassion instead of shame, it shifts. Just a little. But enough. You stop seeing yourself as broken. You start seeing yourself as burnt out.

So here’s what helps me thaw:

• I break it down. I pick one small task, not all of them.

• I stop catastrophizing and start, even if it’s just opening the Google Doc.

• I remind myself: I’m not behind. I’m healing. I’m recalibrating. I’m learning how to exist in a world that constantly demands more.

Sometimes the most productive thing I do is make tea. Or wash my face. Or call a friend. That’s not avoidance. That’s regulation.

We aren’t machines. We’re minds. And we deserve care, even when we're frozen.