I am OVER Overwhelm!

Who needs to release this with me?  Shall I start a support group or something lol 😫

"Hi, 👋🏻 My name is Carol and for the better part 30 years I have lived in over-whelm.  It's been 4 years since my last nervous breakdown that I fully put on myself with un-necessary commitments and obligations and unrealistic expectations of myself being perfect."

Jokes.  But also, not.

The cover image of this blog is not my desk but it is indeed an accurate description of what I used to live with.  I even convinced myself it was my own personal magic to have sh*t everywhere.  It did make me feel better, but not any more calm.

Here is the fun of this blog.  It's been about 3 plus years since I wrote one.  This week I have tapped into a new focus of creativity and it had me get very organized.  I was organizing the final content for my book that will be out soon and came across a ton of other writing.  So I slide that all into a new folder that I called  BLOG and realized that I should get back to this!  I mean my IG captions are basically blogs but no one reads those lol.  I'm not sure if anyone is reading this either but if feels better having it all here.

It is no accident that one of my network dm'd me the other day and said she was loving how I was showing up bold!  I asked her is there was anything she wanted help with.  After a pause, she said " always being overwhelmed!  I'm a mom, a wife, a business builder and I am just always losing it with all I have to do"

Que me popping into my website today Aug 22 and grabbing one of those docs I found and BAM... the subject is overwhelm! 😳. Thanks GUS!!

Here is where it gets really fun, and I'm going to leave what I first wrote and then add to it in pink because you just can't make this stuff up!

Originally written 2020 ⬇️

Overwhelm. It hit me like a freight train just 30 minutes before I sat down to write this. I mean, let's be real—I’ve got a lot going on. We're moving again, my network marketing team is exploding, the kids are getting back to school, I've got a ton of travel to plan, and oh yeah... I promised my publisher I'd have a huge chunk of my book to her tonight. To sweeten the deal (or maybe to motivate myself), I bet her $1,000 that I’d get it done. Aug 22, 2024.... I am just getting to the end of getting her my book!

“Write book” has been on my calendar for months—scratch that—years. I’ve had my starts and stops, and my Google Drive is overflowing with content. So, when I made this bet, I was riding high on a wave of confidence. But you know how the universe works—right when you think you've got it all under control, it throws in a few curveballs just to keep things interesting. More calls to make, more things my son needed, an unexpected move requiring a last-minute hire... and now, here I am, staring down this deadline, typing this out while I get my toes done, and thinking, “How could I not talk about overwhelm?”

I used to live in a constant state of overwhelm. From the moment the sun rose until it set, I was spinning like a top, always racing against the clock, never having enough time. Sound familiar?

I blamed it on everything—the kids, the school lunches, the after-school activities, being a multi-passionate entrepreneur with a million things on my plate. But then something changed. The kids got older, they needed me less, and yet... I was still stuck in this vibration of overwhelm. That's when it hit me—I was the one putting myself in this state. And if I was the one putting myself there, I could take myself out of it.

I know I'm not alone. I’ve heard from so many women, “I’m just so overwhelmed.”

I get it, girl. I really do.

It took going through my breast cancer journey to make me really look at the chaos I was creating. I took a hard look at all the ways I was keeping myself busy and the emotions that came with it. Then in 2020, during one of many online personal development programs, I heard Marie Forleo say something that changed everything: “I don’t do overwhelm.” Simple. Direct.

And from that moment on, neither do I. Still as of right now, that once mindset tweak changed everything and I have not done overwhelm since!

Here's the thing: What we focus on grows. I was spending so much energy thinking about how overwhelmed I always was, and guess what? I kept getting more of it.. Then I would spend more time talking to others about how overwhelmed I was, and they would agree and we would drink wine, or coffee and talk about just    how.  overwhelmed.   we.  were.    repeat. 🔁

So today, when that familiar feeling came knocking at my door, I knew exactly what to do.

1. Stop and Breathe: I paused, took a deep breath, and reminded myself that overwhelm is just a feeling—it doesn't control me unless I let it.

2. Declare It: I said out loud, “I don’t do overwhelm.” There's power in speaking things into existence, and by saying it, I made it real.

3. Trust the Process: I reminded myself that everything that needs to get done will get done. It always does. I’ve got a proven track record of making it happen, so why stress now?

4. Focus on One Thing at a Time: I told myself that time is my ally, not my enemy. When I stop fighting it and focus on mastering one task at a time, I actually get more done.

I tapped into my understanding that worrying about things even in the next 2 days just adds to my head spinning.   What am I focused on today.  I don't even pack for trips now till the even /afternoon before.  I used to start 3 weeks out lol.

I know you know this logically.  It's a whole other thing to put it into practice.  Let me be on this side of the bridge telling you that there in no finish line.  So just drop the battle and need for " it to be done" or or will miss out of what's the most important.   

As Matthew Mcconaughey says in the IG audio 🤪 but originally from my daughters fav movie Dazed and Confused:

" You just gotta keep livin man. L.I.V.I.N"

Next time you feel overwhelm creeping in, try this simple practice: Stop what you're doing, take a deep breath, and say out loud, “I don’t do overwhelm.” Then, pick one task—just one—and focus on completing it before moving on to the next.

You'll be amazed at how much lighter and more productive you feel.

Keep me posted:). You deserve to give yourself a break!

xoxo

CE