it’s okay for me to feel stressed. I respond to my stress with love and compassion.

Something in you is working very hard on your behalf right now, and doing it clumsily.

That is what stress largely is — effort, misapplied, at volume. Nothing indifferent to your wellbeing would go to this much trouble.

If a friend had stayed up all night worrying on your behalf, badly and to no purpose, you would not open with a criticism of their method. You would sit them down and tell them it was all right.

Compassion here is not indulgence. It is accurate.