“Fixing someone isn’t necessarily the same as loving them.” Stress expert Elke Van Hoof on reassurance, validation, and radical acceptance.
How often do you say, “It’ll be okay”? Stress expert Elke Van Hoof hears this phrase all the time. This question didn’t always resonate with her. Sometimes it felt as if someone just wanted to brush it off quickly—as if there wasn’t any real space for what was going on at that moment.
At the same time, she uses that phrase herself quite often. What if well-intentioned reassurance actually prevents us from recovering? What if it sometimes creates more stress than it relieves?
Elke delves deeper into the pitfalls of reassurance and why validation is so important. Acknowledging emotions is not a weakness, but rather the key to genuine connection, growth, and resilience. Radical acceptance and self-compassion help you see stress not as an enemy, but as an ally trying to tell you something.
