Something you're dreading

Two breaths in, one long out. Drops your physiological stress level faster than anything else here. Works in roughly 60–90 seconds.

In four, hold four, out four, hold four. A slow, even pattern that gives a racing system something steady to lock onto. Three or four rounds is enough.

Write down the single sentence you actually need to say — the boundary, the no, the ask — before you're in the room. One line you can hold onto when nerves try to soften it into mush.

Write the looping thought down, in full, somewhere outside your head — then deliberately set a later time to deal with it. Your brain loops because it's afraid you'll forget. Prove you won't.

Shrink the dreaded task down to the smallest possible first move, then do only that. Starting is the hard part; this makes the start small enough to be embarrassing to avoid.