we will inevitably fail and have to downgrade again, and again. How far can we go?
I'm thinking about buying a simple pup tent. That way I will be prepared.
It is hard dealing with stress, people saying "relax, it will be fine", are not the answer. Learn what kind of stress is bothering you, then look for ways to beat it healthy wise. Job stress people used to go out and smoke, now they chug a cola and just continue to stress until the heart attack, I am not advocating smoking, but perhaps if people took that smoke break as a short walk break it would help.
Family stress is different than work stress, one of the most over looked stress points in life, sometimes it is good to get away for a bit but then if it is stress that needed to be worked out all one does is delay the inevitable.
It takes time to learn to deal with stress, and everyone's answer to it will pretty much be different, they found what works for them, not what might work for others. Still trying out a lot of different stress relief techniques may lead to a self learned technique from them.
Back in Australia I had a small team of people I managed in retail. A couple of them smoked, but I sent them all out on "smoke breaks" and covered them on the shop floor. Especially when really busy, it made a big difference to their day.
I think a lot of people have delayed the inevitable and those who have been locked-up due to Covid restrictions, have been forced to face it.
I am okay under "normal" stressful conditions, but I have to pay more attention when things start to mount up rapidly. One of the first skills to learn is identifying it early.
Early recognition is very important. I learned by the time I was 21 to know what my blood pressure was, to this day I still know within 5% what my blood pressure is. It took a year of every day testing two or three times, and then using meditation to lower it.
I wonder how much of our condition is knowable like that. Of course, probably a lot, but then practicality has to come into it too, as if we spend all our lives meditating on conditions, what do we end up living? I suspect that in your case, knowing your blood pressure this way comes grouped with many other bits of information and how you can use them to improve experience at any given moment. One point of self-diagnostic can provide a wealth of options.