Feeling overwhelmed this wild Spring?

March newsletter with my thoughts on overwhelm and some (hopefully) useful approaches to take. Plus a playlist.

Hello loves

I hope you’re… well?!

Eclipse season, combined with mercury retrograde, seem to be having a ball: pulling at the loose threads of everyone’s emotions and then tossing computers out the window, followed by all reasonable communication

The earth is burning and each day brings inexplicable tragedy.

So if ‘well’ feels a bit far off, you are not alone.

Also, I often find that Spring brings a certain discomfort.

There can be a sense of relief in the return of light and longer days, but it is also a time of transition and feelings of overwhelm can overtake the initial sense of hope.

Through working with the lovely folk on my workshop, Tell the Story of Your Home, I have noticed that in our consultation sessions, overwhelm has been a recurring theme.

I have spoken with several participants who have shared their mild panic in feeling that they need to do all the things, and be all the things, as well as frolicking in the sunshine, spring cleaning and starting new projects they’ve been ruminating over winter.

Spring energy is tender.

It is full of hope and possibility, but it is also fragile. It is the soft skin cloaked all winter long, only just seeing the sun after months of darkness. It is Mole as he pokes his snoot through the earth, up into the fresh air and light.

With this in mind, I thought I would share some thoughts on overwhelm and navigating our way through this.

I have three tools I routinely use that may be useful, if you’re struggling with this.

I am writing this from my perspective, as a self employed business owner, who often works in consultation with other self employed folk.

It may not all be applicable to everyone, but I do believe there are elements within these thoughts that can be of use for most people, in different segments of our lives.

Energy Efficiency (this is the longest one, the other two are short don’t worry):

Where can your energy best be placed? Where do you instinctively WANT to place it? Is it work? Is it home? Is it in relationships?

This may seem overly simplistic, but the first answer that comes to you when you ask yourself this, is where you will be most useful.

It may not be where you feel you SHOULD be placing your energy, but it is the place where your energy would be most valuable.

If you can simplify your life, to focus on what is coming naturally to you at this moment in time, it will be a far more effective way of working.

The risk we run of spreading ourselves thin or focusing on what we feel we should be doing, instead of what we want to be doing, is that we build up resentment.

This then leads to ineffective action, burnout and a whole load of energy that could have been saved and applied where it would have been most useful in the first place.

And this, is because we have different energy at different times for different areas of our life.

Our bodies and minds do not adhere to the capitalist notion of consistent performance across the board, in all areas, five days a week, eight hours a day.

Some days, some weeks, some months are for work, others are for home. And if we can place our focus on them when it feels most natural and instinctive, we will be far more effective in those areas.

This does not mean it will feel comfortable. Or practical.

It may feel that you are going against the grain by listening to yourself and being honest about where your capabilities lie in this very moment.

But if you can work within a loose framework of honesty with what you want to be doing, your current capacity and a trust that your energy will eventually shift again into another direction again, it can begin to look more achievable.

It can also save you a lot of grief, and burnout, in the long run.

Worst Case Scenario Fantasy:

So, say you decide to drop a few balls. They will most likely have some effects on the other balls, because our lives are rarely compartmentalised into separate entities.

What would be the worst case scenario? What would be the knock on effects? How terrible would that be?

Sometimes it is worth going down those paths in detail.

Write it all down. Say it out loud to a friend.

Catastrophise. Properly Go There.

And then, once you have faced that possible scenario, in all it’s dreadful glory, sit back and move through the varying options of how this could be tackled.

What would be irretrievable? What would be an inconvenience?

Be mindful of protecting the following: physical, mental, financial wellbeing and safety.

Swallow the Frog:

Simple as. Do that thing you’ve been putting off. The small, slimy thing that’s croaking loudly in the corner of your mind.

Do the hard thing first. Reply to the email. Call the plumber. Listen to the voicemail. Open the boring envelope.

Get that dopamine hit of doing the thing that has been hanging over you. Because the more of these you do, the more equipped you will feel to do the bigger stuff.

And whilst you’re doing it all, play these ten songs, make yourself a tray of hot and cold drinks and plot the dismantling of the patriarchy.

I’ll be back soon to share more on the new and updated version of Tell the Story of Your Home, which will be available very soon, but for now ta-ra!

Love

Java x