The Antidote to Overwhelm

I’m still basking in the freshness of this spectacular new year. Are you? 

We got a fresh coat of snow over here so that’s helping.

Anyway, I’ve been thinking a lot about overwhelm lately because so many of my clients mention it as a major hurdle. 

On my freezing cold but very refreshing walk the other night under the stars, I reflected on how I almost never feel overwhelmed anymore.

Maybe in a given moment here or there if something really chaotic is happening, but I’ve noticed a distinct absence of overwhelm as a perpetual state of being. 

I was curious about what has shifted because that certainly didn’t use to be the case. As a high school teacher, Overwhelm was my middle name. I was overwhelmed for years!

As a young mom, pretty much everything in my world changed - except for the brand new and exciting experience of getting almost no sleep - and thus the overwhelm intensified. 

After a few years of that, I gradually felt like I was getting the hang of the mom-thing and so to keep the overwhelm flowing, I accidentally became an entrepreneur. 

It wasn’t until I figured some very important things out that the overwhelm started to dissipate and then almost completely disappear. 

Here are the things I discovered (I bet you’re curious at this point).

5 things need to happen on a regular basis to reduce overwhelm:

1-Pause

2-Reflect

3-Collect

4-Connect

5-Amplify

Plus a pretty graph I fashioned:

Let me say more about these 5 steps.

1- Pause

If you always keep rushing forward, saying, “Okay! What’s next?” you’ll remain overwhelmed (not to mention rushed, busy and probably stressed). It’s oh-so-important to pause. 

And there are different kinds of pauses. Yes, it’s nice to veg out sometimes, and, it’s also imperative to pause in a way that will fill you up and help you align with your highest vision for yourself. 

2-Reflect

When there’s a frantic air to your life, there’s probably not a whole lot of reflection going on. And that means that you’ll probably keep repeating the same mistakes and stay stuck in old habits and patterns (such as overwhelm). 

3-Collect

When you take time to pause and reflect, that means you’ll be able to collect the good. Many, if not most people, are very critical of themselves, especially for things they’ve done (or have not done) in the past. They also tend to feel doubtful that they’ve made the right choices. 

The practice of collecting means that you gather the good. Most people are quite shocked at how much they have done and how well they’ve done it. Collecting the good also means that you’re expanding your capacity for how much happiness, joy and abundance you can tolerate. 

Everyone has a ceiling and when you collect the good, you automatically raise your personal roof so that you can let even more good in. Sounds appealing, right? Who doesn’t want more happiness, joy and abundance?

4-Connect

I’ve found that there’s extreme benefit to doing steps 1-3 whilst connecting with others. Energy shared is energy multiplied. There’s something extra special about being witnessed for your successes in community. Probably because that rarely happens for most people. Talk about exponential growth!

We also connect with our bodies, with the energy of nature and with the Divine. 

5-Amplify

When you put all these steps together into a sacred and conscious setting, you can expect miracles. Then, when you add embodiment practices into the mix, you become an absolute magnet to all the things you are wanting to attract into your life. Throw in a little (or a lot of) support from Spirit and the sky is the limit!

When you can put Steps 1-5 into play regularly, gradually overwhelm will become a thing of the past or at least a minor player that dims in the face of celebration, self-acknowledgment and delight. 

You’ll be like, “Overwhelm? I hardly know her.” (Which is funny, according to my kids. I’m not sure that I fully get it, but I thought I’d give it a whirl. If it doesn’t tickle your funny-bone, no worries. It might only be humourous to teens…)

That brings me to a brand new something I’ve been cooking up. 

It’s the antidote to overwhelm because it incorporates all 5 of those steps in a conscious and strategic way. 

I call it: The Soulful Time Management Solution

(Ta-dah!)

Over the course of 2024, there will be 5 live via zoom events to help you become immersed in the 5 steps so that the overwhelm dissipates and a grounded, confident, organized and aligned version of you emerges. 

The events include:

• Visioning 2024: How to Get Crystal Clear and Take Inspired Action Masterclass (January 28)
• Quarter Year Review (March 23)
• Half Year Review (June 22)
• Three Quarter Year Review (September 28)
• Year End Retrospective (December 28)

There’s also a bonus event:

• Conscious New Years Celebration (December 31 - in the morning)

As you can see, every few months we’ll pause, reflect, collect, connect and amplify. You’ll be so full of the vibrations of celebration, abundance, delight, tenderness, kindness towards yourself and the joy of being amongst like-minded people that there simply won’t be room for overwhelm.

Can’t attend live? All session replays will be sent by email within 24 hours of the event. 

If overwhelm has been a thing for you (or you just want to get really clear on where you’re headed and have a path laid out to get there), you’re invited to upgrade your experience this year. One of the main points of Courageous Self-Care is to learn how to become productive and peaceful at the same time. 

The Soulful Time Management Solution is the most practical, supportive and fun way I know how to do that. I hope you’ll join us!

For all the details and to register, click this link.

Questions? Let me know by reply email. 

Oh - and if you just want to do the sessions à la carte, you won’t save the money but that’s another way you can do it. 

In fact, you can register for the upcoming Visioning 2024: How to Get Crystal Clear and Take Inspired Action Masterclass right now. It’s just $47. Learn more and register here. 

May you have a week filled with much sparkliness and delight.

With amplified love and reflective courage,

Christina

>Creator of Courageous Self-Care

>Getting excited to share my new children's book with you soon!

>Loving the reclaimed space now that our Christmas decorations have been put away

PS - If you’re part of the Sacred Sucess Sunday Review and want to join the Soulful Time Management Solution, you get a special price! You’ll receive a separate email this week with the coupon code. Hooray for you!

I think there have been quite enough recommendations for today 🙂

To recap, they are:

The All-New Antidote to Overwhelm…

The Soulful Time Management Solution !

Or the one-off session coming up soon:

Visioning 2024: How to Get Crystal Clear and Take Inspired Action Masterclass

I love jazz music (not the busy frenetic kind - the mellow kind that makes you feel happy to be alive). 

I particularly love this song by Jamie Cullum. It’s called High and Dry and I think it’s just beautiful, especially when the strings make their entrance. 

Enjoy!

Listen to High and Dry on Spotify

Listen to High and Dry on iTunes