November 01, 2025Rituals & Routine

Stress Stacking: Why Small Tensions Pile Up and How Rituals Unravel Them

A guest post by Kim Palmer, founder Clementine app.

Hey, I’m Kim and I run an app called Clementine that helps women feel a bit more human when life’s doing the most. Not in a “fix your entire mindset before 7am” kind of way, just small, actually doable stuff for when you’re feeling stressed, snappy, or like you might cry in the supermarket again.

This idea of stress stacking comes up a lot in our community (and in my own life, tbh). It’s that thing where nothing major has gone wrong, but you still feel like you’re about to lose it.

Let’s talk about why that happens and what might help.

What Is Stress Stacking?

Stress stacking is the very normal phenomenon of little things adding up until they don’t feel so little anymore.

The half-read WhatsApp.
The child asking “What’s for dinner?” as you walk through the door.
The dentist appointment you keep forgetting to rebook.

Each one is minor. Together? They’re a heavy, invisible load. And for many women, especially those doing the lion’s share of caregiving, planning, organising, remembering, the stack gets high, fast.

We don’t talk about it enough. We minimise it. We say, “It’s just been a busy week” (even though every week is busy now).

But this constant low-level stress quietly burns through our energy, patience, and ability to cope.

The Science Bit (But Not Boring)

Every time something stressful happens, like your boss piling on another task, your kid screaming, or just seeing your bank balance, your body releases cortisol. It’s your “I will get through this” hormone. It gives you a boost of energy, helps you focus, and keeps you alert so you can deal with what life is throwing at you.

That’s fine when it happens occasionally, like a one-off thing that needs your attention. The problem is when everything feels like that. The unread emails. The “Can we talk later?” texts. The school admin. The group chat you can’t keep up with. The mental load of just trying to hold all the pieces together.

If the stress never stops, the cortisol doesn’t either. And that’s when it starts to backfire. You get stuck in a loop: always alert, always bracing for something, even when nothing major is happening.

So you end up feeling totally shattered but at the same time you feel really wired. Your body’s exhausted, but your brain won’t stop buzzing like a bumblebee. And well rest, that doesn’t feel very restful at all. That’s why you can be lying in bed desperate to sleep, and your mind’s still going, “What about that thing I said today? Should I have said that? Did I forget something?

Rituals That Help You Unstack

You can’t always remove the stress. But you can break the build-up. And you don’t need a weekend retreat or a perfect morning routine to do it.

These are multi-sensory rituals designed to help you shift gears, soothe your system, and interrupt the stack before it topples. Each one combines a Made by Coopers product with a Clementine session for a proper mind-body reset.

1. The 2pm Power Pause

When you feel yourself spiralling or snapping - please pause. Literally.

What to do: Spray Made by Coopers Calm Room Spray around your space. Plug in to Clementine’s “Take a breather” session (7 minutes).
Why it works: Scent is fast. Breath is faster. Together, they downshift your nervous system and create just enough space to reset before you shout at your inbox.

🕒 Best for: That mid-afternoon moment when you can’t remember what day it is and your jaw’s locked.

2. The Before-Bed Unwind

You’re tired, but your brain thinks it’s party time. That’s when you need to switch signals from “doing” to “resting.”

What to do: Rub Sleepy Head balm on your wrists or temples. Then press play on Clementine’s “Sleep When Your Mind Won’t Switch off” session and let it walk you gently out of the day.

🌙 Best for: For when your brain won’t shut up at bedtime

3. The Evening Skincare Wind Down

That moment when you're finally cleansing your face, taking off the day and applying your skincare, let's turn it into something that actually feels like a reset, not just another chore.

What to do: As you start your evening skincare, spritz Made by Coopers Zen Pillow Spray around the room and use their Luna Goddess Serum on your face. Then play Clementine’s “Jaw Release” session while you do your thing.
Why it works: Most of us carry a stupid amount of tension in our jaw without even noticing. This combo helps you properly exhale from the day and signals to your body that it’s safe to let go now.

🧼 Best for: That tight-jawed, slightly overstimulated end-of-day feeling.

4. The Power Nap Ritual

Napping isn’t lazy. It’s medicine. A short, strategic rest can lower cortisol and boost your focus if you actually give yourself permission to do it.

What to do: Pop on a lavender-scented eye pillow or spritz your pillow with Sleepy Head Room & Pillow Mist. Then play Clementine’s “Power Nap 20” session it’s the grown-up version of a guided lie-down.
Why it works: Full permission to shut off. No guilt, no productivity hacks. Just proper rest.

😴 Best for: Lunch breaks, hormonal tiredness, Sundays.

The Bigger Picture

You don’t need to change your life to change how stress lives in your body.
You just need interruptions. Little rituals that say: I see you, nervous system. Let’s slow this down a bit.

The best ones don’t involve discipline or rules. They feel good. They smell good. They give you a chance to come back to yourself.

This Stress Awareness Day (5 November 2025), maybe the takeaway isn’t “do less” it’s just “don’t let it pile up unchecked.”

Breathe. Spritz. Press play. Start again.