“Creating a 100% safe world isn’t an option.” Stress expert Elke Van Hoof on why feeling unsafe helps you grow and the window of tolerance.
How often do you feel truly safe—both physically and in the workplace? You walk into a conference room. Your breath is caught in your chest, as if an invisible hand were squeezing it. “Am I safe here?”
In this episode, stress expert Elke Van Hoof discusses the window of tolerance. Within this window, you can feel and identify your emotions, think clearly, and connect with others. If you fall outside of it, you’ll enter a state of hyperarousal (fight or flight) or hypoarousal (freezing, feeling numb, or shutting down). Research from the University of Twente in 2022 shows that your window of tolerance can fluctuate within a single day. So it’s not a fixed state. When Elke feels tension rising, she seeks out friendly faces, and that helps her calm down again. She also talks more about psychological safety in the workplace. It’s not about pillows and tea, but about respect and space. “The goal isn’t to create a 100% safe world. The trick is navigating in an unsafe environment.”
