The Tabs You Don’t Realise Are Open

April 13th 2026 • By Rebecca McGarry

A few years ago, there was this high-pitched noise in my flat.

At first, I thought it was nothing.
Then I couldn’t un-hear it.

I checked everything.
Called people out.
Asked the neighbours.

No one could find it.

But at night… it was all I could hear.
It drove me mad.

Until one day — without realising when it happened —
I stopped noticing it.

The sound didn’t go away.
I just… got used to it.

And recently, I realised something uncomfortable:

That’s exactly how most of us are living with stress.

Not the obvious kind.
Not the “everything is too much” kind.

The quieter kind.
The background hum.

It’s the mental tabs you never close.

The half-finished thoughts.
The conversations replaying.
The things you said you’d do but haven’t.
The subtle pressure sitting in your chest for no clear reason.

It’s always there.

And because it’s always there…
you stop noticing it.

Not because it’s gone —
but because it’s become normal.

And that’s the part most people miss.

Your nervous system doesn’t measure stress by how big something is.
It responds to how constant it is.

So even the small things…
the ones you brush off, delay, or push aside…

They still register.

They still build.

In the small moments:

• checking your phone first thing
• rushing through your day
• never quite switching off
• carrying things you haven’t processed

It layers.

Quietly.
Gradually.
Tab after tab after tab.

And your body holds onto all of it —
even the things your mind has tried to ignore.

Until one day your system slows down.

Like a computer with too many windows open.

Everything feels heavier.
Simple things take more effort.

Not because you’re doing life wrong —
but because your system is overloaded.

But it doesn’t feel like that.

It feels like:

“I need to get on top of things””
“I need to be more disciplined””
“I just need to push through””

So you do more.

But doing more on an already overloaded system…
just adds more tabs.

And this is where so many people get stuck.

Because it feels like a motivation problem.

But it isn’t.

It’s accumulation.

This is how burnout actually happens.

Not from one big moment —
but from what never gets processed, cleared, or closed.

And the hardest part?

What feels “normal” to you…
might actually be a constant state of stress.

A system that never fully switches off.

A mind that never fully closes anything.

A body that never fully resets.

So instead of trying to fix everything…

Start smaller.

Close one tab.

Not all of them.
Not perfectly.
Just one.

It could be:

• writing down everything that’s been circling in your mind
• finishing one small thing you’ve been avoiding
• or giving yourself 10 minutes with no input, no phone, no noise

That’s where the shift begins.

Not in doing more —
but in creating space.

Because space is what allows your system to feel safe again.

And from there… everything changes.

Over the next few weeks, I’ll be exploring this more —

Stress → Overwhelm → Anxiety → Burnout

Not just what they are…
but how they actually show up in real life.

And how we start to shift them.

I’m also quietly building something around this —

A space to help you properly reset
and come back to yourself.

More on that soon 🤍