🌻 A Simple Guide to Understanding Your Stress Level

The SUDS Scale (Subjective Units of Distress Scale) helps you recognize how hard your brain is working right now. Checking in with yourself can help you know when it’s time to keep going – and when it’s time to slow down.

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🩵 0/10 – Peaceful

✨ Completely calm.
🧠 Thinking clearly.
😌 Body feels relaxed.
📚 Great time for learning, planning, and making decisions.

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💚 1/10 – Very Slight Stress 🌿

🌱 Tiny bit of pressure.
✅ Easily handled.
🎯 Still focused and comfortable.

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💛 2/10 – Mild Tension 🌼

💪 Slight muscle tightness.
🤔 Maybe a little distracted.
🧠 Still able to think normally.

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🩷 3/10 – Noticeable Stress ⏸️

🧠 Brain working a little harder.
😓 Beginning to feel mentally tired.
☕ Good time to take a short break before it builds.

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💜 4/10 – Caution ⚠️

🌪️ Starting to feel overwhelmed.
🗂️ Harder to prioritize.
❗ Small mistakes may begin.
🎧 Slow down and reduce stimulation.

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🧡 5/10 – Moderate Overwhelm 🌤️

🧠 Brain feels busy.
💭 Thoughts start racing.
🔄 Easily distracted.
🚫 Time to stop adding new tasks.

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❤️ 6/10 – High Stress 🚨

🎯 Trouble concentrating.
😣 Irritable or emotional.
💪 Body feels tense.
📋 Prioritizing becomes difficult.
💧 Good time for:

🛏️ Rest
💦 Hydration
🌬️ Deep breathing
🤍 A quiet space

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🤎 7/10 – Survival Mode Starting 🛑

⚡ Everything suddenly feels urgent.
💬 “I have to do it all RIGHT NOW.”
🤯 Hard to decide what comes first.
🧠 Brain fatigue increasing.
1️⃣ Stop planning. Pick only one essential task.

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🩶 8/10 – Very Overwhelmed 🌧️

⚔️ Fight, flight, or freeze.
😢 May cry, snap, or shut down.
💡 Light and noise feel worse.
🗣️ Word finding becomes harder.
🏃 Strong urge to escape.
🧘 Time to regulate – not solve problems.

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🖤 9/10 – Crisis 🚑

🚫 Thinking is severely impaired.
🌫️ May experience panic, derealization, or emotional flooding.
❌ Very difficult to make good decisions.
🤝 Ask for help if available.
🛟 Focus only on safety and calming your nervous system.

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💔 10/10 – Maximum Distress ❤️‍🩹

💥 Complete overload.
🧠 Brain is in full survival mode.
🚫 Unable to process or problem-solve effectively.
🛡️ Safety comes first.
⛔ No decisions.
⛔ No planning.
⛔ No pressure.
🌬️ Rest, breathe, and let your brain recover.

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💖🌻 Love Love Brain Reminder

💛 Your SUDS number is not a measure of your strength. It is simply a measure of how hard your brain is working right now.
🌱 Lowering your SUDS isn’t giving up.
🧠 It’s giving your brain the opportunity to recover so you can do more later.

🌸 If resting isn’t possible…

If I’m overwhelmed but can’t fully rest, I can try a gentle activity instead, such as:

🎨 Using one of my adult coloring books
🖍️ Coloring quietly to calm my nervous system
🌬️ Taking slow, deep breaths while I color

Sometimes a few peaceful minutes can help reduce mental overload without requiring complete rest.

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🌻🙏 Special Thanks

A heartfelt thank you to St. Jude’s Brain Injury Network for the thoughtful gift of the adult coloring books and for supporting the brain injury community.

Learn more: https://www.sjbin.org/