For the life you’re building, and the woman you’re becoming.

Written by a therapist. Made for real life.

I’ve sat across from many women who look like they have it all together, but I quickly learn that they feel anything but. They’re carrying so much, giving so much, and somewhere along the way, they’ve lost a little bit of themselves.

This book is the kind of help I wish every one of them could hold in their hands.

The Calm Edit

A guide for the woman who holds it all

Quiet the mental load. Settle your nervous system. Feel like yourself again.

A practical, psychology informed guide from psychotherapist Andrea Schroll, LICSW, for the woman who looks like she has it all together and is privately exhausted from carrying everything.

Does any of this sound like you?

You answer fourteen messages before breakfast and tell everyone you're "good, just busy."

You're the one who remembers the permission slip, the birthdays, and what's running low in the fridge.

Your mind is still working at midnight, rehearsing tomorrow.

You hold yourself to a high standard and rarely feel like it's enough.

Resting makes you feel guilty, so you hardly ever do it.

You sit in the parked car for five extra minutes because it's the only quiet you'll get all day.

If you're nodding along, this book was written for you. You're not broken. You're overloaded.

Not another self care guide.

The Calm Edit doesn't ask you to escape your life, overhaul your routine, or become someone new. It helps you understand why you're so tired, then gives you small, realistic tools that fit into the life you already have.

Think of it as an edit: keep what works, set down what doesn't, and make a little more room for you.

Nervous system regulation. Why you react the way you do when you're running on empty, and how to help your body feel safe.

Understanding anxiety and overthinking. What your mind is trying to protect you from, and how to sort a worry instead of fighting it.

Mindfulness without the incense. Present moment practices for people who can't just sit and breathe.

Practical grounding. Body based tools that take under a minute and fit between meetings, school pickup, and 2 a.m.

Boundaries and the mental load. Scripts and small shifts for work, family, and the group chat, plus ways to hand over whole areas of the load.

The mind-body connection. How your thoughts and your body talk to each other, and simple ways to help both settle.

What's inside

Twelve short chapters in four parts, written in plain language and built to be read in small pockets of time.

Every chapter ends with something you can try today.

Part One: Why you're so tired

• The woman who has it all together

• Your nervous system is not broken

• The invisible load

Part Two: The patterns underneath

• Overthinking is a safety strategy

• Perfectionism in a good outfit

• The guilt tax

Part Three: The tools

• Grounding in under a minute

• Mindfulness without the incense

• Boundaries that don't need a speech

• Offloading the load

Part Four: Staying yourself

• Life transitions

• Your Calm Edit: a simple personal plan

Plus a companion workbook

Pages you can type into on your phone, tablet, or computer, or print and write on by hand.

• Eight worksheets based on cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)

• The Thought Check and a thinking traps reference

• The Worry Sorter

• The Stress Signal Tracker

• The Good Enough Experiment

• The Guilt Check

• The Load Sorter

• The Boundary Planner

• The Weekly Check In

• Four coloring pages to slow down with, for screen or paper

• A one page 2 a.m. reset and grounding quick reference

• Extra pages on the mind-body connection and ways to regulate

• Three pages for your own notes

What you'll be able to do

• Recognize your stress responses (fight, flight, freeze, and fawn) and understand why they show up.

• Calm your body in under a minute, at your desk, in the car, or in the middle of the night.

• Quiet overthinking by sorting your worries instead of arguing with them.

• Put down the mental load by handing over whole areas, not just single tasks.

• Say no with a sentence instead of a speech.

• Take time for yourself without paying the guilt tax.

• Come back to yourself during busy seasons and big changes.

A little from Chapter 1

You answered fourteen messages before breakfast. You remembered the permission slip, the dentist appointment, and that your partner's mother is allergic to walnuts.

Then you drove home and sat in the parked car for five extra minutes, because it was the only quiet you were going to get all day.

If you read that and felt a little jolt of recognition, this book is for you.