There are a lot of things competing for my time and energy right now, all buzzing around my brain.
Some are stressful and a little scary (aging parent issues), some are exciting and fun (launching a new course), and some are time consuming (home projects). And as I started my day yesterday, I knew that feeling overwhelmed wasn’t going to serve me.
So I want to share the strategies that help me tackle overwhelm. They’ll help you, too:
- Make a list of EVERYTHING. A complete brain dump. Once it’s all written out I take it a step further and sort it in buckets, prioritize it, and schedule time in my calendar to get things done.
- Stick to my morning practice. I’m a morning person. I wake up at 5am while the house is still quiet, and I come downstairs to my office to read, visualize, meditate, journal and set my intentions for the day.
- Get outside. I commit to a 3-mile walk each day, no excuses. Fresh air and movement help manage stress, and give me time to think.
- Meal plan and prep. Sunday, I wasn’t feeling it, I’ll admit, but I did it anyway, I made a meal plan for the week, bought some groceries and spent 90 minutes in the kitchen. I roasted a tray of veggies (beets, butternut squash and turnips), made a pot of soup, sauteed collard greens, cooked a pot of quinoa, roasted a piece of salmon. There are chicken breasts and salad ingredients in the fridge, and I’ve got several mix and match meals ready to go.
- Exercise. In addition to my daily walk, I exercise several days a week. I mix it up, depending on what my body needs: core, strength, stretching, cardio…
- Prioritize sleep. That can feel counterintuitive when you’ve got a to-do list a mile long, but without a good night’s sleep, I’m not going to have the energy and focus I want and need.
Supporting my 1:1 clients in managing stress, anxiety, and overwhelm is part of the coaching I do.
Here’s what Kayla had to say about our work together: “I came out of this program a better person. I can look at friends going through infertility and see how different my journey is as far as managing the stress and anxiety of it all. I know how to nourish my body with food. The tools I’ve learned to use to help my mental health have been amazing.”
And here’s what M., a perimenopause client had to say: “Investing in me is something I don’t do often, typically making sure everyone else in my family is OK before focusing on my own needs. However – it’s made me a better spouse, friend, mom, etc. because I am feeling better about myself- both in my body & my progress.”
If you’d like to explore how I can support you, let’s chat.
xo,
Jennifer