The Lion Doesn’t Stress Me Out. My Inbox Does.

What a safari in South Africa taught me about stress, safety, and modern life.

Everyone uses the same example when they talk about stress and the nervous system.

Your body doesn’t know the difference between being chased by a lion and answering emails at work. Or being behind on deadlines. Or sitting in traffic.

I’ve heard that comparison more times than I can count.

And every single time, I think about the fact that I’ve actually sat a few feet away from a lion.

Not metaphorically. A real lion.

I was in South Africa at Kruger National Park on safari in late September, early October. I remember how dry the savanna was, brown and yellow, wide open in every direction. We left early in the morning before the sun was fully up, bundled in layers against the cold air.

We were looking for the Big Five: lion, leopard, elephant, rhino, and buffalo. Sometimes we would drive completely off-road, running over bushes and uneven ground just to follow the animals we were tracking.

At one point, we happened upon a lion resting in the dry grass. I have a photo from that moment, smiling in the safari vehicle while this massive lion sits calmly behind me. She was lying there completely at ease in the warmth of the morning sun. Huge, beautiful, unbothered. Nothing about her felt rushed or tense. She just existed there so peacefully in her environment while all of us sat quietly watching her.

And the strange thing is, I never felt afraid.

Not once.

I felt peaceful out there. Calm in a way that’s actually hard to explain unless you’ve experienced it. The savanna felt quiet. Open. Still. Nothing in me felt braced or on edge.

Which is funny, considering I’ve felt far more stressed sitting at my laptop answering emails than I ever did sitting near that lion.

That trip changed the way I think about stress. Because maybe the nervous system isn’t just reacting to situations. Maybe it’s reacting to how those situations are being experienced and interpreted in real time.

Out there, I felt safe. I trusted the guides. I trusted the environment. Nothing felt chaotic or unpredictable. My body wasn’t preparing for impact every five seconds.

But everyday life? Sometimes that’s what gets people.

The constant notifications. The pressure we put on ourselves. The rushing. The feeling that everything matters at once. The way we carry tomorrow before we’ve even finished today.

That’s the kind of stress that slowly builds in the background until your body forgets what it feels like to fully settle.

And honestly, I think that’s why the lion comparison bothers me so much. It oversimplifies something deeply human.

Because stress isn’t always about danger.

Sometimes it’s about pressure without recovery. Constant input without space. Feeling emotionally cornered by your own expectations.

Sometimes the real threat isn’t the lion.

It’s Microsoft Outlook.