At 38, Rachel had the kind of tiredness that sleep couldn't touch. She was puffy. Her hair was thinning at the temples. She had nothing left by evening — not for herself, not for her husband, not for the life they used to have.
Her doctor ran labs and said everything looked normal. So she kept going. Figured this is what her late thirties would feel like — managing, not living.
Then she learned that chronic stress doesn't just wear you down. It depletes your body at the mineral level. Cortisol stays elevated and quietly burns through energy reserves, recovery capacity, and the hormonal pathways that make space for desire. Her body wasn't broken. It was running on empty.
Rachel M., 38 · 182 days in.