Catching a storm
Do you feel overwhelmed with things on your plate? Did you take on way to much and left little time for yourself? It can feel like a monster headache when it comes to biting off more than you can chew, but once it’s over, oh man the sense of accomplishment is so rewarding. I recently took on more than I could. With school, work, double work, and moving I found myself stressed, over eating sweets, and worn down.
So how did I get through the chaos? I took small bites. I stopped looking at all the things I had to do and focused more on what can I do right now to take one step closer to it. When I did this it allowed me to calm down, sit down and focus up. At points I would get caught up or overwhelmed in the end result but then I would pull back, catch that anxiety spiral and say no that is not my reality anymore. I became the watcher of my thoughts, that allowed me to stop the craziness before it got down and ugly.
Remember the cycle of an emotion first start with your subjective experience, all that sensory input, memories, current events, future possibilities get crammed into your brain to decipher and out comes anxiety being like well now since you are thinking this way the body must react, so it does. That’s when the physiological response happens, hormones released to put you further into a panic or a fight or flight. Right after that that’s when you have have a behavioral response to the stimuli of the body and the mind. You act, and that could be in all sorts of ways.
Catching the emotion in that first place will allow you to change the cycle. If you are thinking anxious things bring awareness to it. Allow yourself to question it but don’t shame yourself for it. That only makes it worst. Thank it for it’s guidance and then tell yourself this way of thinking no longer serves me. Through gratitude for yourself, even the things that you don’t like it allows you to release it and change that neuralpathway at the source.
It can be hard to catch though when all you feel is tired, exhausted or overwhelmed. Don’t beat yourself up when you can’t, or you cycle back to it. Creating something new takes practice, and reinforcement, and that takes time. So if you can tackle things in small bites, otherwise you are going to choke on your food. It also creates a sense of mindfulness, and that allows you to slow down the feelings of dread or fear. Be kind my friend, especially in times like that. You already have enough pressure, ease up, and love on you!