Overwhelmed? This may help….
You may have seen my recent news that we are indeed moving to Nashville! So much excitement surrounds this new chapter, but with a huge life transition, so is the overwhelm!
I woke up yesterday morning and felt the anxiety and excitement mixed together running through my body. I felt that feeling where you can’t quite sit still, but you also can’t seem to complete a thought and to make matters worse, aren’t really able to complete any task because you can’t figure out which to tackle first?!
I’ve had days where I literally stand in my living room and feel frozen. I look around me and have no idea how I will get everything done before we move. If I think about it too long, the purging of items, packing, kiddos schedules and helping them transition emotionally and say goodbye to friends, my work, Chris’s work, deadlines, and the list goes on and on, I could literally drown in feelings of overwhelm.
I know as you read this, that you may have not been facing a cross country move, at least lately, but you have experienced overwhelm am I right? Let’s just say, if you’re a mom, it comes with the territory.
All of this came to a head yesterday and I had to take a deep breath and come back to myself. I called my coach and she gently guided me back to what I know, which is what coaches do. 🙂
As I took a deep breath and tuned in after our call, I realized several truths that by now I can always go back to and trust.
When it feels hard and the feelings are uncomfortable, lean in. Every time in life I have tried to run from the uncomfortable feelings or fight against what was happening in my life, it only made it harder. So, I sat there and let myself feel all of the overwhelm and it didn’t kill me.
I closed my eyes and as I took deep breaths, I connected in spiritually, which shifted me right into gratitude. As I began to sit in and immerse myself and my thoughts to everything I was grateful for, I also brought in the feelings and expansion and heart opening that being in gratitude brings. When I finally opened my eyes, and looked around at all the things around me, they became just that, things. Things that would get done, things that would get packed, that would be donated. They became simple tasks that if I set my timer for 1 hour a day, focused on packing up for that one hour, while listening to an awesome podcast, would actually become fun and easily accomplished.
Chris and I both intentionally decided together to chuck any expectations that might make this time more difficult. We both caught ourselves having thoughts that everything should be easy with the kids or work can’t get even more stressful, but sometimes during times of great change, that’s exactly when it all seems to amplify. Chucking any expectations of what this time is supposed to be like, is enabling us to move through the hard stuff with more grace and respond instead of react.
Set loving boundaries with social media. So. Important. I want to be informed, involved, and of course supportive of others, and I know you do too, but sometimes we can feel so much, want to help so much, and we begin to let the news, politics and the back and forth wear us down. This doesn’t allow me to show up and bring the light that I know I am here to bring. So, loving boundaries around being on social media are crucial to my own well-being.
Make an action list of the things I can tackle first and set a timer for each one. Knowing I have one hour to do a task seems doable and allows me stick to it and still function in my work and as a mom and not get stuck in frozen overwhelm.
What triggers overwhelm in your life? I hope this resonates with you and you will use some of these strategies in your own life. I am here to support you beautiful mama!
You got this. We got this.