Top 5 Reasons You Have Not Broke Free of Overwhelm

Being overwhelmed and stressed is not a desirable place to be, however, many of us spend a large portion of our lives with these emotions at the forefront of our mind. Our always moving, busy lives, with never ending to do lists set up us for this and it is hard to break free.

When we maintain an emotional space of overwhelm and stress it is not only straining on our emotional health, it is also straining on our physical health. We have something called the autonomic nervous system. This system is designed to control bodily functions we do not consciously think of such as breathing, heartbeat, and digestion. It is made of two main parts.

• Sympathetic:Fight or Flight; This branch kicks in when we are in stressful or dangerous situations.
• Parasympathetic: Rest and Digest; This branch helps to slow our bodies down, eliminate waste, lower heart rate, blood pressure etc.

Unfortunately for us our bodies cannot tell the difference in stress. It reads situations such as getting chased by a predator the same as being stressed by a deadline at work. This is unfortunate because many of us live in a constant state of stress, therefore we continually have our Sympathetic nervous system in over drive.

Flight or flight instructs our bodies to be ready to run, elevated heart rate, quickened breathing, restricting blood flow to our digestive system to save it for our muscles. It also causes our adrenal glands to release cortisol. Unfortunately for us increased cortisol levels can lead to things such as anxiety, depression, headaches, trouble sleeping, digestive issues, even weight gain. Which if you ask me, will all lead to increased stress, simply repeating this vicious cycle.

So we get it! Stress isn't good for us right? Overwhelm is not where we want to be! So what in the world do we do about it? I want to share with you the top 5 reasons I find many people are unable to break free of overwhelm.

1) Your Schedule Runs Your Life, Instead of You Running Your Schedule

I find that very few people actually sit down weekly and look over their schedules. It tends to be a day by day survival type of thing (which I totally get because I spent many years like that!). When we go day by day, appointments sneak up on us and/or we forget things which all add to our stress level.

I always recommend that my clients schedule in a 30-60 minute meeting with their schedules and anyone pertinent to scheduling on Sundays. So spouse, significant other, kids as necessary (by including the kids, you are teaching them this amazing skill-set). In this time you can look at the coming week and create a game plan. Here is how I like to do it.

• Start with obligations: work, doctors appointments, kids practices, cleaning the house, grocery store (yes I consider this an obligation, when we don't plan our meals and shopping we end up eating out or getting take out which all adds to the stress cycle)
• Fill in Personal Care: meditation, work outs, sleep (seriously, put it in your schedule, what time will you be getting into bed and waking up.....you need 7-9 hours of sleep, not 7-9 hours in bed)
• Fun: date with spouse, play time with kids, hikes with friends, anything that fills your cup

When we create our schedules with intention we feel prepared, we know who is responsible for everything and what our week is bringing. Give it a try, but give yourself at least three months to begin to create a routine of it.

2) You Struggle With Delegation, Remember That Asking For Help Is Not Weakness

I am a self proclaimed perfectionist. I am famous for saying, 'I can do it faster,' or 'I like the way I do it better.' Let me ask you a serious question, if someone loads the dishwasher, but it doesn't get loaded exactly how you like it loaded........is it really the end of the world?

I want you to pause and think about where in your life you can ask for a little more help. Can you spouse, roommate, kids, coworkers take small tasks off your plate? Can you hire a cleaning lady? Can you order your groceries online for delivery?

Think about the things on your to do list that you do not absolutely HAVE to do. I have always struggled with asking for help, I honestly still do, however I am realizing now that it is limiting the time I have to do things I love as well as limiting the growth of my business. I have to let this control go and I have been working. I have made so much progress in this area and each time I notice a shift in my quality of life. I urge you to start letting go and asking for help. Your stress level will thank you!

3) You Do Not Schedule In Quiet Time

You wouldn't eat dinner on the dirty plate from last nights meal would you? However day after day we get up and start our day without clearing our minds from the day before. This can be done in many ways, but here are some of my favorites.

• Meditation
• Journaling
• A walk alone to clear your mind
• Reading a good book

Really it is just about you finding what works for you, but scheduling in some form of quiet time even if it is only 20 minutes. I personally love getting to bed a little early and reading my book each evening. Find what works for you and schedule it in.

4) Sleep Has Not Been A Priority

This always reminds me of the good old saying, 'I will sleep when I am dead.' Well if you keep going with not making a sleep a priority that might come true sooner rather then later. I know! That was harsh....sorry!

Let us get serious though. Sleep has some incredible benefits. This is when our body does its repairs and regeneration. Sleep can help with decreasing stress, weight loss, decreasing inflammation and pain, digestive health. It is so important that we give our bodies this time.

Research shows that the average adults needs 7-9 hours of sleep a night. So this does not mean laying down at 11 pm and having your alarm go off at 6 am. It takes time for us to fall asleep. Schedule in time to slow down, calm your mind, and get ready for bed. I know this can seem so overwhelming in itself to set this much time aside, but I promise it will be worth it. You will feel so much better when you make this happen!

5) You May Be Consuming To Much

You might think I am talking about food, but I am actually talking about news, television and social media. The news is full of negativity and heart break, television is an escape from our realities (which in moderation can be completely fine), social media is filled with everyones highlight reels.

All of these clog our brains with negativity and wipe away our precious time. We only get 24 hours a day and we get to choose what we do with those 24 hours. Take a week and keep track of how much time you spend watching or reading the news, watching tv, and scrolling through social media. Sometimes the awareness of simply tracking this is all we need to make a shift.

I want to remind you of something that I often remind my clients. I understand change can be very overwhelming as we become creatures of our routines. However, if nothing changes, nothing will every change. You will be in the same place if not a worse off place in a year or two if you don't make changes in the direction you want to go.

I know how hard change can be, and let's be honest.......if it were easy, we would have done it on our own already. Let's talk! I want to help you reach your goals and create the change you are looking for. Click HERE to set up a call with me and I will help you figure out where to start! I look forward to connecting.