Lows, more lows, highs and inspiration!

Quite how it's March I'll never know.

February was such a brutal month I thought it would go on forever. But phew, it's over, and I'm pleased that as the days are getting longer, my inspiration is blooming too.

February's themes for me swung wildly between Dancing Queen, I Have a Dream and Slipping Through My Fingers (yes, sorry I'm an ABBA fan AND saw Mama Mia in the West End for the first time this year!).

Having basked in a New Year where everyone was well, February saw my Dad back in hospital, more than once with unexpected kidney stones, and a major tech failure of my automations (grrr)!

What a ride this year is proving to be!

Unsurprisingly newsletter themes reflected coping with overwhelm, increasing your focus, and rest.

Overwhelm can be triggered by external factors, and we can trigger our own overwhelm depending on how we perceive and appraise a situation. The beauty of having a neuroplastic brain however, is that we can train ourselves out of the ruminating which perpetuates overwhelm - but it does take practice!

The Squiggly Careers podcast is always good value. In this episode the hosts provide 10 tips to help you take back control if you're feeling overwhelm at work.?Tune in here.

I'm also running FREE training on how to manage overwhelm on March 7th at 7pm. Click here to register and get reminders.

You don't get results by focusing on results, you get results by focusing on the actions that produce results"

- Mike Hawkins

This is all well and good, but emotional overwhelm can make our ability to focus very poor. If our sympathetic nervous system is activated we find ourselves in a state of fight or flight.

This level of arousal may make us hyperfocused, hypervigilant or scattered in our attention, depending on just how chronic the stress is that we feel.

What do we need to do?

Bring ourselves back into our body, and bring ourselves into the moment.

This can be as simple as micro-mindfulness techniques such as focusing on our breath, mindfully looking at an object, or focusing on the pressure we feel when we rub the thumb and forefinger together on the same hand.

I identify six ways you can increase your focus further in this recent blog: You can read the details here.

There is virtue in work and virtue in rest. Use both and overlook neither

- Alan Cohen

Do you get the right kinds of rest?

When I completed my Physical Intelligence training, we were introduced to the acronym REST which I try to live by. It stands for:

Retreat

Eat (healthily)

Sleep

Treat.

When we are nourishing ourselves we are able to cope better with overwhelm, and increase our focus as our brain feels less under threat. If all else fails, I use havening to keep me grounded and settle myself back in my body. (If you'd like to try a FREE havening session or find out more about it, please do just drop me a message.)

In this Goop blog, Saundra Dolton-Smith, MD reflects on the seven types of rest identified in her book Sacred Rest.

These include: physical, emotional, social, spiritual, and more, many of which I know I tend to neglect.

This blog is great because there are many tips on how to ensure you get the right kinds of rest, as well as ways of detecting what type of rest you need.?You can read the details here.

And then inspiration struck!

There were times in February when I really wondered just what the lesson was through all of this.

And then it struck me.

I need to create a more flexible offer for the women I support, because if I'm going through the ringer, the likelihood is so are they.

This is what led me to create the Lady Rebel Leader Society - a professional membership for heart-led women who are passionate about making a difference.

The membership provides access to my self-paced, self-study LEAD programme and opportunities for coaching / Q&A, connection and contemplation, time to pause and co-working. And discounts on live events and 1:1 coaching.

The first 15 people to sign up will also get two free 1:1 coaching sessions with me.

So if you're looking for a lower cost option to help you develop more courage, self-trust, self-belief, better boundaries, self-acceptance and clearer communication, drop me an 'I'm in' and I will send you the nitty gritty details!

That's it for now, happy March everyone!

Erica