3 Things To Do in the Face of Overwhelm

Ever feel overwhelmed?

If yes, I get it. I felt overwhelm tapping on my shoulder this week.

I have a lot on the go. I bet you do too. 

And yet, I didn’t go there. (No thank you Overwhelm, I can’t come out to play. Because it won’t be fun.)

Here are 3 ways that kept overwhelm from overwhelming me. 

Tip #1

Love Not Fear

First of all, I don’t get scared of overwhelm. I love it instead. 

I say, “Part of me that is heading toward overwhelm, I love you. I accept that you’re here. Thank you for getting my attention. I’m pouring love into you now because I’m practicing loving all the parts of myself unconditionally, you included.”

If you’re not quite at love yet, you can start with just accepting it. 

When you take this loving approach, you’ll find that the overwhelm (or anything else that shows up) just melts because all it wanted was your attention in the first place. *And it will take more than one try. Persist and then persist some more.

Sidenote: I was just gifted a most delicious “unsellable” cookie at the cafe where I’m writing. What abundance! The only thing I’m overwhelmed with right now is gratitude.

Tip #2

The Brain Dump

When there are a lot of to-do’s bumping around the inner walls of my brain, I find it’s best to write them all down. I do a nice little brain dump so I don’t have to remember everything.

I open up my planner to the extra pages at the back, label it as a Brain Dump, put a date on it and write down everything I can think of that needs to be done. 

This might sound overwhelming to see a big list, but I feel it’s much more relieving just thinking (and forgetting) about the things.

From there, one of two things happens. Either I use the list and get things done from there. (Because I LOVE checking things off!)

Or, I don’t look at it again for awhile. Both options work. Sometimes I’ll come back to a brain dump a few weeks or months later and notice that most of the things got done, even if I didn’t look at it again. It’s kind of magical that way. 

Tip #3

The Bigger Perspective

Do you know why overwhelm even shows up in the first place? It’s not because you’re doing something wrong. 

It’s because something big is coming through you and your brilliant and intelligent energy system is letting you know.

Now, of course, the mind will make up different stories. It will say things like:

“You’re overwhelmed because: 

• you said yes to too many things
• You need better boundaries
• You keep making the same mistake
• You’re not organized…”

And while we can sometimes use tweaks along those aforementioned topics, the energy of overwhelm isn’t problematic. It just means you’re up to something big and the energy is moving through you to pave the way.

Ultimately, if you look at overwhelm as a problem, then it will be. If you look at it as great news, then it will be. Because you can have what you say. (So you might as well say what makes you feel better.)

There you have it. Love the overwhelm, clear out your brain with a brain dump and know that the energy is paving the way for something significant to come through you.

Plus, one little bonus tip. Take some sort of action. The best way through is to do something. If you get frozen or paralyzed by overwhelm, it will stick around. If you do one little thing, though, no matter how tiny, it will help that big energy flow through. 

I hope that’s helpful for you.

May you have an expansive and flowy kind of week filled with aligned action and acknowledging your greatness.

With welcoming love and inspired courage,

Christina

>Creator of Courageous Self-Care

>Moonlighting as chauffeur to teenagers (mainly my own)

>celebrating a cleaned up basement (which reflects a cleaned up subconscious - hooray!)

In this time after the solar eclipse, whether it was a full-on eclipse for you or not, the energy can be quite chaotic. Lots of things rising to the surface. Big emotions. That kind of stuff.

What’s super important for the next few days is to ground, ground and then ground some more. 

• Feel your feet on the earth. 
• Pay attention to the energy centre that’s 2 feet below where you stand or sit - just be curious about what it feels like. 
• Take a deep breath into the belly and let it drop into the earth with the sound of ha (like a sigh). 

All of these suggestions will reduce chaos and help you stay in your own energy. Do them often.

During the Sacred Success Sunday Review that I facilitated this past weekend (which was phenomenal, as usual and definite helps to alleviate and/or prevent overwhelm), we listened to this song for one of the processes.

I love this song by Garth Stevenson called Flux. It’s instrumental, uplifting, flowing, grounding and makes me feel absolutely blissful.

I hope you love it too.

Listen to Flux by Garth Stevenson on iTunes

Listen to Flux by Garth Stevenson on Spotify