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F the Hustle
Why stress is sabotaging your health goals
Erika Muralidhar
June 15, 2026
I used to be you. Even with all my training, years of nursing behind me, higher education, a career built on understanding the body, I still got swept into the hustle. I was the person who didn’t have lunch scheduled, who would sometimes skip eating because I didn’t think I had time. I relied on coffee to get through mornings because I was already exhausted, then crashed by 2pm. I used to eat, sleep, and dream about work.
Over the years, I learned that doesn’t have to be the case. I can add little moments into my day that give my mind and body space to actually function. It wasn’t about blowing everything up. It was about understanding that I could choose to live differently.
I talk a lot about F the Hustle, and most people assume that means I’m talking about the grind, the long hours, the never-ending to-do list. And that’s true, the grind is part of it. But it’s not the whole thing.
What is the hustle, really? To me, it’s the go-go-go. The need to have it all, do it all, and be it all right now, all at once, every single day.
Hustle is a construct we’ve been led to believe is the only way to succeed. Living in this mindset, you think you’re already behind, which raises cortisol levels in your body every second. And when you live in that space every day, you’ve already lost the game before it starts.
Increased cortisol signals the body to shunt blood to our vital organs, the brain, muscles, lungs, and heart. It’s the stress hormone that wakes us up in the morning and prepares us to fight an enemy or flee. It leads to increased heart rate and blood pressure, increased glucose production and insulin levels, decreased appetite, decreased digestion, and decreased repair.
This was a great natural response when we were getting chased by bears or had to get out of a dangerous situation. But now we see the body reacting the same way when we get frustrated at traffic, receive an unexpected email, have a never-ending to-do list, endure a hard workout, have a change in plans, or come home to a messy house. The list goes on.
If levels stay high in our body over time, this is when we see things like chronic heart disease, weight gain, hormonal imbalances, anxiety, insomnia, and diabetes.
The real reason stress destroys your health goals isn’t willpower. It’s that your body literally cannot prioritize healing and change when it thinks it’s under threat. When cortisol is high, your body is in survival mode, not improvement mode. Digestion slows down, so you absorb less from that nutritious meal. Sleep gets lighter and less restorative, so recovery doesn’t happen. Your body holds onto fat for energy reserves because it thinks it might need them to survive whatever “danger” it’s sensing, even if that danger is just your inbox.
So you can have the right diet, the right workout plan, the right sleep schedule, all of it. But if your nervous system is stuck in go-go-go, your body is too busy bracing for impact to actually use any of it. You’re doing everything right and still not seeing results, and it’s not because you’re failing. It’s because no one ever told you that calming your nervous system down is part of the plan, not separate from it.
If there’s one thing to take from this, it’s that you can’t out-discipline a nervous system that doesn’t feel safe. Health happens in the small moments, when we stop pushing harder and start listening.
That’s why I’m on a mission to help women regulate their nervous system, build the connection between body and mind, and find their way back to decisions that feel sustainable and easy, not forced. Because when your nervous system feels safe, everything else gets easier to change.
Services I offer:
Health Coaching Sessions using my NLP and Nursing background
Mark your calendar — some upcoming event
VIRTUAL, LinkedIn Live Perimenopause
Date: June 24th at 11 am
IN-PERSON, An Ignited Manifestation & Vision Board, West Reading, PA
Date: June 26th, 6-8 pm
Location: Finch and Fern: 728 Penn Ave, West Reading, PA 19611VIRTUAL, Instagram Live: Health & Wealth
Date: July 8th at 12:30 pm
VIRTUAL, Is the Shot Enough?: A real conversation about GLP-1s, hustle culture, and the health piece nobody is talking about
Date: July 16th
VIRTUAL, It’s Not All in Your Head: Your Body Changed the Rules
Date: July 23rd and 24th
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