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You protect systems… but who protects you?!
Under this motto, 22 threat modeling enthusiasts met on 27.08.2026 for a change of perspective. Alice Hajjar, founder of Eleva Coaching and host of the podcast “Stress ist normal” [Spotify Link], spoke with us about stress management. In doing so, we put on the threat modeling glasses so typical of our profession and subjected our own wellbeing to a security analysis.
Materials
Slides (German):
Threat model in German / original:
Threat model in English, translated by Claude:
Impulse on Stress Regulation
Alice began with an impulse talk on the topic of stress and its regulation.
She explained the background: stress is not something bad, but rather equips our body with special powers that let us accomplish great things. The problem only begins when the system stays in constant alarm mode and no longer returns to its normal state.
She pointed out that although external factors often seem to set the tone, stress is above all a physiological phenomenon. A smile and a sense of not being alone spread through the room when Alice asked for a show of hands on who had noticed the following signs in themselves:
- Muscle tension
- Irritability
- Cynicism
- Difficulty concentrating
- Avoiding social contact
- …
It became clear that while stress manifests individually, it is rooted in shared physical patterns.
For stress regulation, Alice offered a simplified model — “Trigger → Appraisal → Reaction → Stress” — suggesting we focus on appraisal and reaction, since triggers are often outside our control.
What matters most, she said, is the story we tell ourselves internally and how we view the world. Anyone who consciously chooses their reactions can break stress spirals.
She also went deeper into the “5 biggest levers: breathing, movement, sleep, thoughts, social connection.”
Personal Experiences
We continued with some personal accounts. We started with the impulse question of what is harder: recognizing stress, or returning to a normal state.
One person shared, for example, that once they had escaped the situation itself, the stress felt far away — but the real challenge was reacting appropriately while still in the situation.
Another person described how they had believed a project would fail if they didn’t handle everything themselves — and how they then learned that everything actually worked out fine once they let go of the reins.
We Threat Model Our Stress!
Then it was time for collaborative threat modeling! As the word “stress management” already implies, we can think in terms of threats and countermeasures. (
) It’s an easy bridge to build into threat modeling — applying familiar methods to our own wellbeing.
We came together with many speakers, even more listeners, and a handful of note-takers in our #tmc-dach Slack Canvas.
Together we discussed several threats relevant to us and possible solutions. What was written down can be found above under Materials (or here: https://tmcdach.de/Geschenke/Bedrohungsmodelle/Psycho-Threat-Model-EN.pdf).
We found an especially large number of countermeasures for the following threat:
I am solely responsible for <all of application security> / <whatever it may be>
- Am I really? Have the hypothesis confirmed from “outside”!
- Make myself replaceable!
(=> possibly knowledge transfer!) - Ask for a raise
- Give “I’m allowed to ask for help” a positive spin
- Reality check
- Just hand it off / let it go
-
Judith Holofernes – Charlotte Atlas - Eminem + Beyoncé – Walk on Water
- Confront and put your own delusions of grandeur into perspective
- Be away for weeks and realize the world didn’t end
The Most Important Message
The most important message for us:
Take care of yourself!
And feel free to do this yourself: subject your own life and health to a threat analysis. What do you actually want to protect? What can go wrong in your life? What are you doing about it? Are you really doing it? And how will you actually know when things have gotten better?
Mental Health: Don’t Model Alone
When it comes to mental health, we want to invite you to organize support for yourself. Don’t be a hero threat modeler: you don’t have to analyze and handle every burden alone. Get varied viewpoints — especially when your own perspective is no longer enough.
That can mean changing working conditions or personal stressors, talking to people you trust, seeking professional support, or first reaching out to a low-threshold counseling or support service.
We want to understand what’s weighing on us, bring in different perspectives, combine suitable measures — and not forget to actually put them into practice.
Thank You So Much! 
We thank Alice Hajjar and all participants for this very special evening!
(Translated by Claude)