Easy Go-To Rituals for Stressful Life Seasons
Updated July 2026 | Originally published October 2024
When life is overwhelming or you’re in desperate need of a fresh start, these rituals will rescue you from stress and reset your daily rhythms.
If you already have a few rescue and reset rhythms in place, you know how they can save the day! But if you’re not sure what they are (or where to even start), keep scrolling through for ideas you can implement right away.
Rescue Rhythms: do these rituals in times of uncertainty, instability, and when life gets overwhelming
We’ve all been there. When it rains, it pours. Life is coming at you full speed and you need something to ground you, fast. These short, effective actions are your go-to rescue rhythms.
Think of these rituals as little flotation devices for those moments when everything is a bit too much and you’re on the edge of drowning: whether it’s the first day of your cycle, the third day of solo parenting, or the umpteenth time you’re dealing with family drama.
How much time do you have? Pick the rescue rhythm ritual that fits:
One minute: Pause, breathe, and ask your inner voice, “What do I need?” It sounds so simple, but that tiny pause can ground you in the moment and give you access to instant clarity.
Eight minutes: Grab your journal and get those thoughts out. Whether it’s a brain dump or writing directly from your intuition, this FREE Inner Voice Journaling class will guide you through.
Ten minutes: Try a guided meditation to calm your mind and find center. The Meditation Collection is full of soothing meditations to help you reset including favorites like “Find Clarity in a Busy Season” and “Return to Center.”
An hour: Tap into your intuition, release the emotions that’re holding you back, and stop spiraling about what to do next. Schedule a single private coaching session: An Hour of Answers.
Learn more about trusting your intuition with this episode from the podcast archives:
How to Overcome Overwhelm with Your Inner Voice of Intuition
Your intuition, or inner voice, is a life-changing resource that’s always available. It can help with big decisions, but it can also support you with tiny choices every day. Learn what intuition is, how to use it, and what it’s like to work with an intuition coach.
Episode 42 from December 17, 2020
Listen here / Apple / Spotify
Free Workshop: Journal with Your Intuition
Journal beyond the dear diary basics and access your inner wisdom in a new way.
44-minute video class
Bring your pen, paper, and an open heart
Leave with more clarity + confidence
Reset Rhythms: do these rituals when you’re back from vacation, healthy after illness, or you just need a fresh start
Reset rhythms are rituals to rely on when you’re ready for a shift in energy. Whether it’s after you’ve finished a big project, hit a milestone, returned home after a trip, or wrapped up a specific season in life. Turn to these the practices when you want to clear the decks and realign with what’s next.
Which one speaks to you? Pick the reset rhythm ritual that feels best:
Clear the clutter: Tidy your desk, refresh your vision board, or clean out your closet. Clearing your physical space can have a huge impact on your overall energy and mental state.
Refresh your rituals: Take stock of your current self-care practices and refresh anything that feels stale. Book a massage, toss any stale makeup, or focus your attention on sleep. Tune into the goals you have for this fresh start and then set up rituals to support you.
Set fresh intentions: Setting intentions helps you navigate life's chaos with less stress and more flow. Don’t overthink the process. Put on some music, light a candle, take a few big breaths, and use these journal prompts to help set your intentions:
How are you feeling now? And, how do you want to feel in this fresh start?
What do you want to celebrate? What do you want to cultivate?
What are ready to release? What are you ready to receive?
Ask your inner voice: what do I truly desire this season? Then, let your mind and intuition shape your intentions.
See yourself embodying these intentions over the next few months. What does it look like? How does it feel?
What steps do you want to take? What will keep you connected to your intentions? (Habits, rituals, accountability, etc.)
Learn more about refreshing your rituals for the season with this episode from the podcast archives:
Elevating Daily Rituals for Summer
Summer is a season of energy, exploration, inspiration, and flow. With the shift in schedules, temperatures, and priorities, now’s the time to update your everyday rituals. Make sure your daily rhythms help you feel refreshed, aligned with what matters most, and ready for whatever summer fun (or chaos!) comes your way.
Embrace the cycle: rinse and repeat these rescue rhythms and reset rituals as needed
Life is cyclical. Some days you need to be rescued. Other times, you need a reset. And most of the time? You’re living in the messy middle or the beautiful in-between. Recognizing these rhythms can help you flow through life with less resistance and more ease.
A note to fellow perfectionists: beware of the temptation to overcorrect or burn it all down
When things feel out of control, the mind’s natural response is to try and control more. This is normal! The key is tuning into your intuition and trusting that what feels aligned is enough. Simplify your rhythms and let them serve you without adding extra pressure.
Learn more about embracing the cycles in life with this episode from the podcast archives:
What If Your Repeating Patterns Aren’t Problems to Fix?
In personal growth, parenting, health, and career, we treat life repeating itself like a flaw to fix, even though cycles are everywhere in nature. We're talking issues that resurface, always being the first to raise your hand, and yelling at your kids because you’re human, not a robot (or a monster).
Episode 198 from August 7, 2025
Listen here / Apple / Spotify
More showing up as who you truly are. Less faking it until someday.
Private sessions, supportive rituals, and group coaching to regain self-trust so you can show up as your favorite self at work, at home, and even the soccer mom group chat.
Listen to Episode 182 of Celebrate Cultivate
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This year, I've been working with a professor at Syracuse University to bring intuition to her class on imagination, creative problem-solving, and entrepreneurship. We recorded a Q&A, and one of my favorite questions that she asked was, "What are your rescue and reset rhythms?" Now, you might already have some in place, or you might be wondering what exactly are rescue and reset rhythms.
In this episode, I'll share mine, along with ideas for you to explore to support yourself when life gets chaotic or when you feel like you need to realign. Welcome to episode 182 of Celebrate Cultivate. I'm your host and intuition coach, Kaileen Elise Sues. Before we get into all that, a few personal updates to share.
Now that October is officially here, I am so excited for everything that's here right now and all that lies ahead. In the calendar for October, there's a lot going on for me travel-wise. I'm going to London next week. I can't believe it. And then at the end of the month, I'm actually going to New York to go speak at the class in Syracuse.
So I'm so excited for that. My husband and son are going out of town one weekend for a chess tournament for my son, and at the end of the month, we have Halloween, which always feels like a big family event. So we've already got our Halloween costumes in motion because I knew it was gonna be a really busy month, so I tried to get ahead on that.
And the kids are begging us to get the whole house decorated for Halloween, which it isn't really my favorite holiday to decorate for. I'm much more of a Christmas girl, but the kids are excited, so we'll definitely be getting some things up soon. Another thing that's been going on for me in the last few weeks is just a deepening of this ongoing journey I've had in reconnecting to my body.
I am currently enrolled in a 10-week-long class on conscious eating, and it's a perfect example of one of those things that I see it happening a lot for my clients, where you feel like you should be able to do something by yourself, but it is a million times better when you get help. Like, I'm an intuition coach.
I definitely should be able to eat intuitively and listen to my body and move intuitively and all of these things, right? Like, that's what my mind tells me. But in reality, it is way better when I have support, when I recognize that I need support to just kind of get me in a direction that feels really good and aligned.
So it's not that you always need support with something, but if you are struggling in an area of your life, it can be really, really helpful to have somebody hold your hand and walk you through the process of learning how to connect, of learning how to listen. And it's so much of what I do, like what my new coach is doing for me is what I do for my clients.
But it is really hard to do it for yourself, and I recognize that. And I have so many clients who have the same certification that I have and have been through the same training that I have, and they love working with me, and I don't judge them at all for not being able to do it on their own. They could do it on their own, but it is so much better to have somebody walking alongside you.
So I've been working on that, and slowly but surely exercising again, and really starting to heal that connection with my body that I feel like has been disconnected over many, many years through being a collegiate athlete and then having three babies and taking lots of time off from working out or eating in a way that feels good and healthy with me.
So I'm excited about this new program I'm doing with her, and I'm also just really excited to feel better in my body and empowered to make those intuitive decisions with this new practice that I'm trying So let's get into rescue and reset rhythms, what they are, why we need them, all of it. So first, what are rescue rhythms?
You can take a moment to define that for yourself, and if you've listened to this podcast for any length of time, you know that that's one of my favorite things to recommend, is to really take a moment to decide what things mean to you before you listen to somebody else's definition, right? Even the dictionary's definition of something doesn't necessarily mean that you can't have a different way of looking at it.
So my offer to you is that rescue rhythms are go-to practices when life feels chaotic, or overwhelming, or when you need a lifeline. So when you need that rescue feeling. They're short, effective actions that help you ground yourself and move through moments of stress or discomfort. And there's a million different times when you might want to use a rescue rhythm.
As you're listening to this, you know, gather the inspiration that you need to apply it to your life. Maybe you need rescue rhythms on the first day of your period, right? Like, when you just feel physically however you feel on that first day of your period. For me, it's like, you know, it's just, like, heavy and tired and just a little, like, I need to rest.
Or if you have been solo parenting for many days, or you're a single parent and you're just, like, at the end of your line of ... At the end of your bag of tricks, you know? If you're at the end of your rope, that may be a time to use a rescue rhythm. If you've been dealing with family stress or family drama, or physical pain that's kind of wearing you down.
Basically any time when you feel like you need to save yourself or get a breath, that is a time to go to a rescue rhythm. If you have one minute, just one minute, a few different things that you could do is literally just set a timer on your phone for one minute to close your eyes and breathe. And not try to think, not try to stop thinking, not try to do anything, but just breathe for a minute with your eyes closed, not doing anything.
It can be really grounding and really powerful. And at the end of that minute, you can breathe and ask your inner voice, "What do I need?" You know you hear that from me over and over and over again, because even just asking that question is going to get you clarity on just the one next thing to do. It's not gonna give you, like, all of the answers to all of your problems at once, but just ask, "What do I need?"
And then play with acting upon the wisdom that you receive. If you have eight minutes, then you can journal with your intuition. So I have a free class that's inner voice journaling, walking you through exactly what to do in this eight-minute session. But essentially, what you can do is just set a timer for eight minutes, pull out your journal, write from your inner voice whatever it is that you need to hear from your intuition, or you can go back and forth and ask questions from your mind to your intuition.
And sometimes we just need a good old-fashioned brain dump. So don't think for a second that I'm telling you to never journal from your mind either. Sometimes journaling for eight minutes from the mind is exactly what you need, and if you get the intuitive knowing that that is what you need, then trust it.
Another thing you can do in that eight minutes is you can journal from a different vantage point. So you can journal from your inner child, or you can journal from your inner elder. So you can write from the perspective of you at 9 years old or 11 years old or maybe 89 or 66. So just pick a time on your personal timeline and channel the wisdom from that place and see how it applies to you now If you have 10 minutes, then do a guided meditation.
I have a whole collection of meditations called The Meditation Collection that you can purchase now, and right now there's six guided meditations in there, but I'm always adding to them, and I don't charge you when I add them. So the cheaper you can purchase that, the better. So get in now. Whenever you're listening to this, buy The Meditation Collection, and it will continue to grow over time and just add to the value for you.
And then if you have an hour, book a session with me for that deeper guidance, that deeper rescue. So we'll spend an hour going into your intuition, getting anything, any wisdom, any guidance from your inner voice, but also releasing any emotions that are safe and ready to be released. Because sometimes when we're in a need of rescue rhythms, what we really need is a good cry and really to feel the feelings that are coming up, that are safe and ready to be released.
Again, releasing emotions is something that you can do on your own for sure, but it is easier. Honestly, it's way easier to do it with someone sitting next to you because it's like doing pushups, for example. You might know that doing pushups is a good thing for you to do, and you might know that you can do 10 pushups, but if you're in the middle of doing five pushups and then you hear the laundry ding, then you just get up and stop and go work on the laundry, and then you never finish your 10.
But if you were working with a private personal trainer and doing 10 pushups, you'll finish them because they're standing next to you. And the same thing is true with emotional release or listening to your intuition. When I'm on the other side of that Zoom supporting you and standing there with you, it's easier to stay in that frequency, and it's easier to do what you came to do And finally, my other favorite top rescue rhythm, whenever you can, just go to bed early.
Sleep really can work wonders on your emotions, on your physical body. And when you are going to sleep, you can even infuse the intention of the sleep being restorative, the sleep being that rescue that you need. Like, really letting it be the sleep that you need to feel better when you wake up refreshed and resolved in the morning, and then just put yourself to bed.
That is, has always been one of my favorite strategies when it's been available. You know, there's been times where, like, while my back was injured, I couldn't sleep at all. I was in so much pain. And then I've had three kids, so of course there's been lots of times where sleep wasn't the rescue rhythm of choice because sleep wasn't available to me.
But when it is, that is always one of my favorites to try Okay, so next, what are reset rhythms? Reset rhythms are helpful when you need a change in energy, a vibe shift after you've finished a season or you finished a project, or when you've reached a milestone and you want to reassess or realign or reset.
Here are my top reset rhythms, and some of them you might already be doing as well. So it's just good to check in with yourself as you listen to this and be like, "Oh yeah, I do that. That must be one of my reset rhythms," or, "Ooh, I like the idea of that. I'm gonna give it a try." Or maybe I say something and you don't do it, but you kind of hate it, and so that clarity helps you know what exactly would be a good reset rhythm for you.
Number one is clear the clutter or clear the decks. So cleaning your desk, decluttering your pantry, archiving old documents or files on your computer, refreshing your closet. Just doing something to really, like, clear space can be so restorative and resetting to your emotions, but also to your mind and to your physical space.
Next one is refreshing your vision board or revisiting your rituals, so clearing out the energy of things. And the Autumn of Ritual bundle that I have right now available for purchase is full of ideas and inspiration for refreshing and revisiting the energetic side of things that support your systems, the rituals, the journal prompts, the meditations.
All of these different things are a way for you to make space beyond clutter, but just really kind of tuning into what exactly you want as you're resetting. Like, what is it that you want in the future, while also reflecting on what has just happened? And then doing intentional resets with your intentions.
So thinking about setting new intentions. Anything in your life or any areas of your life that have been feeling stale, you can breathe more intention into it. This can be for physical places, like in your desk area. Let's say you clear your desk, and then you make a new vision board. The last step to this is then to set an intention for when you work at your desk, you feel inspired, that time goes by perfectly.
You don't feel too rushed, but you also don't feel like you have an abundance of time. You have the right amount of time for what you want to get done. So you can play with the intentions that you set, and you can do this in any area of your life, right? You could do it in your kitchen pantry. You could do it in your car.
You could do it in your exercise space. Wherever it is that you are needing a reset, you can clear out the clutter, you can bring in the energy that you wanna bring, and then you can set an intention. One of the things to notice and pay attention to when you are looking at rescue and reset rhythms is that if something is feeling out of control, you might feel the urge to over-control.
Just know that this is perfectly normal, it's perfectly natural, and pay attention. Notice that if you're doing this, you have the perfect resource inside of you to make sure that you're staying in alignment, and that is your intuition. Your intuition is always going to be steady and stable. Even if it's directing you towards something that's really new and surprising to your mind, it's never going to make these big, sweeping changes in one direction or another the way that our mind does.
So our minds have a tendency to, like, wanna do everything or do nothing, right? That all or nothing, black and white approach to life is very mindy, whereas the intuition is a lot more stable, steady, gentle, open, and expectation-less, right? So any time you notice that, a really strong grip on expectations or outcomes, you can be pretty sure that you're trying to over-control.
And then all you need to do is find a time and space to reconnect to your intuition and find out, like, what would be most supportive? What do I need to do? What can I release control on? And let it go from there So now that you've got your rescue rhythms and your reset rhythms, the other thing I want to mention is that there's going to be a lot of repetition.
Repetition is necessary, it is natural. Life is cyclical, and there's gonna be times, seasons in your life, seasons in nature, where you're in the middle of flow and everything's going along really smoothly. There's gonna be times when you need rescue, and other times when you need reset. And just knowing that that is going to come, not being fearful of it because now you know what to do, like, you can handle these times.
You have the resources and you have the rituals and strategies in place. And I'm not even saying, like, sit down and answer all of these questions to plan out your rescue and reset rhythms. This is more like being aware of it and knowing where you are, what are you in need of right now. And as that repetition comes, welcoming it, being open to it, as opposed to resisting it or being frustrated by it So if you are looking at your life and feeling like, "Oh my gosh, like every time I am feeling out of sorts, it's because I'm forgetting to journal," or whatever, just know that life has many phases.
There's the lunar phases, the days of the week, the seasons, even your own personal energy waves are cyclical. So you don't have to worry about patterns repeating because you are going to, with each cycle, iterate, change, improve. And eventually, potentially, some things that keep coming up for you may not come up for you forever.
That's the other thing the mind is always like so freaked out and frustrated by, is like, "Is it gonna be like this forever?" And no, it won't be, because things are cyclical. And you won't be in a rescue or a reset or a repeat forever. You just won't. Another final note of caution on this is not to overload yourself with extra to-dos.
So trust that what feels aligned is enough. Simplify your rhythms and let them serve you instead of creating extra stress, right? So just don't let it get out of hand, because if you're in need of a rescue or you're in need of a reset, you are not in need of a bunch of extra things on your shoulders and a bunch of extra things on your plate.
You just aren't. Again, if you haven't checked out An Autumn of Ritual, it is a beautiful resource that is available to you to help you embrace the cycle of fall that has arrived, help you set intentions, help you connect within with a guided meditation and journal prompts. There's even a bonus vision board circle for you to watch that will inspire you to create a vision board that's connected to your intuition for the season.
So there's a lot of goodness in that, and it's only $22. So you're really getting a lot of resources for a small investment to really help you have a season that's full of intention, intuition, and magic Now, I promised a little update on my back pain journey. So it's been almost six months since I shared the episode about my back injury and my healing journey.
I'll link to that in the show notes if you'd like to give it a listen or revisit it. But just a quick recap, my back started hurting really badly last fall, and for a while, it was a really, really significant struggle. I could not walk at one point very comfortably. I was always okay sitting, but even just walking from the car to an appointment was excruciating.
I couldn't, you know, walk my kids to school. I couldn't walk around Target. It was, it was really, really bad. Eventually, what helped fix it wasn't any special thing. It was time, and a little bit of modern medicine, and really getting the rest that my body needed. So it was different than what I was expecting, and if you listen to the episode, then you'll know that I was trying to heal a chronic back pain problem with my mind and my emotions, and it wasn't actually a chronic problem.
It was an acute problem, so I had a herniated disc, and it's the second time I've had a herniated disc. I had surgery before about 10 years ago. So really scary, not that fun, and really no resolution other than time. So now I'm feeling much, much better. I'm sore on occasion, but it's not anything that's intense, and I've really been feeling much better in my body.
But the hardest part has been getting back to working out, and again, like reconnecting with my body in a way that feels healthy and safe and sustainable. And so I'm very much still working on that, but this conversation around rescue and reset rhythms really relates to my whole back pain, back injury story because when I was in terrible, terrible pain, all I needed was the rescue, right?
And now that I'm on the other side of that, I'm really relying on some of those reset rhythms. And one that, you know, for me, I noticed this morning as I was getting up, was like, "Okay, I really want to start working out again." I'm having a hard time making the time. There's so many other things that I wanna be doing in the day, so that is something I'm working on.
But even just setting out my workout clothes the night before so that I'm in workout clothes the next day has been like one of my little baby reset rhythms that I'm using to be sure that I'm prepared to work out when it's time to work out Other times that you might find yourself desiring a rescue or reset rhythm could be after periods of travel, after stressful or emotionally draining situations in work or family, any time that you're feeling off in any way and wanting to reconnect with yourself.
If you are looking for deeper support, then an hour of intuition is totally a perfect thing for you because you're gonna get that personal guidance that you want from your inner voice, and we can even ask questions about what are the best rescue and reset rhythms for you from your intuition. Now, a few questions that you might be having that I wanna talk through is, like, what rhythms should you use if you don't have a lot of time?
Now, even just thinking that question fully, we all have the same amount of time, but we're all trying to get different things done in that same amount of time, and it takes us a different amount of time to get things done. So there's a lot of variables. That's why at the beginning of the episode, I was sharing rhythms that are really, like, bite-sized, one-minute rhythms, because oftentimes we will give more time to something if it is feeling good and it is working well.
But the idea that something could take, like, an hour when we think we only have a few minutes will make us not try it at all. So if that resonates with you, my suggestion is to really think about what would be the smallest action that you can take to have a rescue, to have a reset. And then another question that you might have is: how do I know when I need a rescue, or how do I know when I need a reset?
And really, a lot of these ideas could be interchangeable for either. So it isn't about getting this perfect or knowing, like, "Oh, I'm definitely doing a reset rhythm when I really need a rescue rhythm," right? Like, you're not... It doesn't have to be perfect. You're not being graded. No one cares really. What matters is that it is doing something for you.
When I think about it, I can get a little confused between the two. Ultimately, the things that are going to feel like a rescue rhythm are the things that are really soothing and supportive and grounding. So if you are needing those energies, then your rescue rhythms should be aligned with that. And then the reset is like, "Okay, I'm ready to reboot my computer.
I'm ready to reboot my system. I need to clear things off and s- get started again." So they are, rescue is like a calming energy, and the reset is like a activating energy, and so things might get kicked up. Dust might get kicked up, you know? But at the same time, that reset is going to give you a, a full satisfaction cycle of, like, getting things out of your house and starting fresh.
That is what the reset rhythm is. So depending on what kind of energy you're getting pulled to, that is how you recognize which one you need And then finally, one last question you might be asking is, how can I make sure these rhythms don't turn into over-control or perfectionism? And if you're listening to this and you're asking that question, you're already trying to be, like, a perfect student and avoid perfectionism.
Part of it is part of the process, right? Is, like, swinging on the pendulum and realizing, like, "Oh, I overdid it again. I'm adding things to my to-do list when I was trying to make my life easier." And the second you recognize it, that's when you drop it. That's when you stop. That's when you take a deep breath, and you reconnect to your intuition, and reconnect to yourself, and decide what you need to do versus what was just something that you had to put on a to- to-do list so that it wasn't in your mind anymore.
And sometimes I will write things out, like I'm telling myself to do these things, and then I will immediately, like, cross them off or put them on a different day because I know I'm trying to overload myself out of a desire to control something that doesn't need to be controlled. So if you recognize that in yourself, just adjust and keep going, and acknowledge that there's gonna be times when you try to over-control, and you are trying to be perfectionist, and you don't need to be.
And the second you notice, that's when you drop it, and then you keep going. All right. So throughout this episode, I have mentioned An Autumn of Ritual. Like I said, it's just $22 if you want to refocus on yourself, reconnect to yourself and to the season. That is going to be perfect for you. And then if you want to get clear guidance from within on what rhythms will best support you, book an Hour of Intuition.
And I'm also now offering packages. I've mentioned this in a few episodes back, that it was something we were bringing to the website and bringing to you. It is now live. You can sign up for a Season of Intuition to receive four coaching sessions at a discount. You also get Voxer access to me for s- 12 weeks through those sessions, and you can use them to support you in any way as you're navigating your season, that you're, the challenges that you're facing.
Anything at all that you're craving inner voice guidance on, I will be there to support you Thank you so much for tuning in. I hope this conversation on rescue and reset rhythms inspired you to explore your own. Be sure to check out the links in the show notes for today's episode. Just open up your podcast app, tap on the episode, and you'll find everything right there, including links to An Autumn of Ritual, An Hour of Intuition, and more resources to support you this season.
And remember, if you enjoyed this episode, subscribe so that you never miss another episode, and if you loved what you heard today, leave me a quick review. It means the world to me, and it really does help new listeners find the show. I'll be back again soon with another episode. Until then, I hope you have a beautiful day and that you are able to bring some rescue, reset, and repeat rhythms to your everyday life.
Talk to you soon. Bye.
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As a working mom and business owner who often bites off more than I can chew, there are a few go-to rituals and new habits I'm prioritizing. We’re talking never wanting to book a dentist appointment, trusting the shoes on the floor will get put away, and celebrating the tabs you’re closing on the daily.
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Come find me in the DMs, I’m @kaileenelise
Heeeey! I’m Kaileen Elise Sues.
Former HR girlie, failed SAHM, 40-something. Your favorite coach and voice of calm with useful practices, intuitive insights, and small shifts that make a real impact.
My approach isn't about forcing you onto a proven path. It's about helping you break through emotional blocks and discover your true north. Because it’s about time you embraced your deepest wisdom and started living the life of your dreams.
