Stephanie Moncada Counselling & Therapy

01/28/2026

Insight alone won't get you very far. It needs committed action to see changes.

Committed action — taking small steps toward what matters, even when it’s uncomfortable.

You don’t need motivation first.
You don’t need confidence first.
You don’t need calm first.

You move — and those things often follow.

Healing isn’t passive.
It’s a series of tiny, values-aligned choices made in real life.

And those choices count.

💬 What’s one small step you could take this week?

01/26/2026

It's time to adopt the word willingness instead of coping.

Willingness means:
“I don’t like this — and I can make room for it.”

It’s not resignation.
It’s not approval.
It’s not forcing positivity.

It’s recognizing that life includes discomfort —
and that avoiding it often shrinks our world.

When we practice willingness, we stop organizing our lives around avoiding feelings and start organizing them around meaning.

That’s where real freedom lives.

💬 Where might willingness help you right now?

01/24/2026

Goals are things you achieve.
Values are how you want to live.

It's time to shift the focus from:
❌ “How do I stop feeling this way?”
to
✅ “Who do I want to be in this moment — even with these feelings?”

You can:
• Be a caring parent while feeling overwhelmed
• Be connected while feeling anxious
• Be compassionate while feeling frustrated

Values don’t require perfect regulation.
They require intention.

When life feels stuck, it’s often not because you’re failing —
it’s because you’ve lost touch with what matters.

💬 What value do you want to lead with this week?

01/21/2026

One of the biggest myths about mental health is that you’re supposed to get rid of uncomfortable thoughts and feelings.

But the goal isn’t to eliminate discomfort — it’s to stop letting it run your life.

Anxiety, shame, self-doubt, grief — these experiences are part of being human.
The suffering often comes from the endless struggle against them.

When we make room for what’s here without judgment, we free up energy to live according to what actually matters.

You don’t have to feel better to move forward.
You just have to be willing to feel what’s here — and choose anyway.

💬 What feeling do you tend to fight the hardest?

01/17/2026

Ever notice how advice makes sense… until you’re dysregulated?

That’s because when your nervous system is overwhelmed, the part of the brain responsible for logic, reasoning, and perspective literally goes offline.

In those moments:
• You can’t “talk yourself out of it”
• Coping skills you know don’t feel accessible
• Everything feels urgent or impossible

This isn’t resistance or lack of insight.
It’s a physiological state.

That’s why real change doesn’t start with mindset shifts —
it starts with supporting the body back into safety.

From there, clarity returns. Choices widen. Capacity grows.

💬 Have you noticed logic disappearing when stress is high?

01/15/2026

If you feel like you “go from 0–100,” that’s not a personality issue — it’s a nervous system pattern.

When your system has been under chronic stress, pressure, or emotional load, it becomes more sensitive to threat.
Small things feel big. Reactions come fast. Recovery takes longer.

This can show up as:
• Snapping or irritation
• Tears that come out of nowhere
• Overthinking conversations
• Feeling “on edge” even when nothing is wrong

None of this means you’re broken or bad at coping.
It means your nervous system is working overtime to protect you.

Regulation isn’t about controlling emotions —
it’s about creating enough safety in the body that emotions don’t have to explode to be heard.

💬 What’s one moment you notice your reactions feel bigger than the situation?

01/13/2026

Your body doesn’t regulate through thinking — it regulates through movement.

When stress, anxiety, or overwhelm build up, your nervous system often needs big, intentional movement to discharge that energy.
This can look like pushing, pulling, carrying, stretching, or even pacing.

Big body regulation:
• Helps release stored fight/flight energy
• Improves emotional regulation
• Supports focus, grounding, and body awareness

This is especially helpful for:
– Kids who are “bouncing off the walls”
– Adults who feel restless, edgy, or irritable
– Anyone stuck in stress or shutdown

Movement isn’t a distraction from regulation — it is regulation.

💬 What kind of movement helps you reset?

12/31/2025

Happy New Year!

12/25/2025

12/24/2025

Wishing everyone a happy and safe holiday season.

The office will be closed until Jan 8.

I will see you all in the New Year.

Much love,
Steph

12/22/2025

The hard part about growing up in diet culture isn’t just the thoughts —�it’s what it did to our nervous systems.

When bodies were criticized, controlled, or joked about, many of us learned:�
• to tense instead of trust�
• to override hunger and fullness�
• to feel shame instead of safety

That doesn’t just create body image struggles —�it creates chronic dysregulation.

Hyper-control around food can be a nervous system trying to feel safe.�
Bingeing or emotional eating can be a nervous system seeking relief.�
Avoidance, numbness, or “giving up” can be a nervous system protecting itself.

These patterns aren’t failures.�They’re adaptations.

Healing doesn’t come from more willpower —�it comes from restoring safety in the body and reducing shame.

This is the work of unlearning, reconnecting, and regulating — slowly, compassionately, and without punishment

If healing your relationship with food, your body, or yourself is part of what you’re hoping for in the New Year, you don’t have to do it alone.

This is the kind of work I support — helping people untangle shame, calm a dysregulated nervous system, and rebuild trust with their bodies in a way that’s compassionate and sustainable.

If 2026 feels like the year you want something different — slower, kinder, and more regulated — I’ll be here.