Embracing Overwhelm and Unlocking Creativity

Ever felt like you’re drowning under a sea of responsibilities? You’re certainly not alone. Today, we dive deep into that all-too-common sensation of being overwhelmed by juggling work, parenting, and even new pets. I’ll guide you through ways to validate your emotions, offering the same kindness to yourself that you’d show a cherished friend. Learn how embracing your feelings without resistance can lead to breakthroughs and discover how adding play and fun to your routine can unlock creativity and effective problem-solving.

But that's not all—we'll also explore the power of asking the right questions. By examining the lessons within our experiences, we can uncover hidden insights and regain control over triggering situations. I’ll share tips on identifying personal blind spots and invite you to break free from negative emotions. Let’s embark on this journey from overwhelm to empowerment together. Tune in to find out how you can thrive amidst life’s demands and transform struggle into strength.

In this episode, I cover the following:
1. Understanding and validating overwhelm.
2. Play and leisure activities to alleviate stress and reduce fight-or-flight responses.
3. Delegation and practical solutions to manage responsibilities.

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💗 Dr. Steph
@DrStephanieLopez
www.brave-method.com

Chapters

• 0:04 From Overwhelmed to Grounded
• 11:58 Empowerment Through Asking Good Questions

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:04

Hi, I'm Dr Steph and I'm here to guide you on your journey to healing from a difficult relationship with your mother, whether she was narcissistic, emotionally immature or just plain toxic. I want you to know that you are, in fact, not broken and you do not have to suffer from anxiety or explosive emotional reactions like lashing out. You can break the cycle. You are a strong, capable woman who can handle any challenge that comes your way, and I'm gonna show you how to have the ultimate control over your reactions so that you are unstoppable. Welcome to the Broken to Brave podcast. How are you doing today? Really curious how you are.

Speaker 1: 0:51

I've been hearing a lot from people on Instagram and the DMs about overwhelm that's been coming up and I want to talk about that. And before I dive into that, I want to give a quick update. If you are listening to this on the day that this is released, I am in the midst of doing an embryo transfer and if you're here listening for the first time or if you're like, wait what? Let me bring you up to speed super quick. Let me bring you up to speed super quick. I am on a surrogacy journey for a couple who has been wanting to build their family for quite some time and they've been through so very much, and the embryo transfer is June 4th, so I'm super excited and I can't wait to share more with you. If you haven't heard anything about the journey, I did do an episode. I wish I could remember the exact date. I think it was in March, so you can look in the episodes that came out in March, maybe early April, and I have an episode all about the journey and all the steps, in case you're curious.

Speaker 1: 2:06

Now, without further ado, let's dive in to today's episode. Like I mentioned, I have been hearing from people that they have a lot of overwhelm coming up about not being able to do enough, not feeling good enough, not being able to get it all done, overwhelmed, anxious about dropping balls, and so I just want to sit here with you and talk about that, because, if you're anything like them, you've been experiencing this too, maybe, especially now, having wrapped up everything with the end of the school year, if you have kids and figuring out summer camps and transitioning schedules and getting on a new routine and all of that, how do you handle yourself, your life, when you feel overwhelmed? What do you do? What do you say to yourself. I want to give you a few quick tips today. Now. Sometimes it's just a little bit of overwhelm, and sometimes it's a whole lot of overwhelm that results in feeling frozen and like, oh my gosh, I have so many things to do that I can't even get anything done right now. And this works no matter where you are on that continuum or that spectrum. What I want you to do first is to validate yourself.

Speaker 1: 3:32

What would you say to somebody who you've really cared about, who shared the exact same thing with you? Maybe she came and she said I feel so overwhelmed between my business and my kids and all of their extracurriculars and keeping the house straight, and we just got a dog and I just it just feels like so much and I feel like anxious that I cannot get all of this done. What would you say to her? I really want you to sit with that. And if you really were compassionate toward her, what would you say? Maybe the first thing you would say is it really it makes sense that you're feeling like this? Getting a dog, a puppy, getting a puppy is a lot. I mean, it's not quite a kid because you can put a puppy in a crate, but you got to potty train them. You've got to be there. You got to make sure that they don't chew on anything. It's a lot Like makes sense. You really do have a lot going on right now. What do you need? What would feel good for me? You can give that to yourself.

Speaker 1: 4:41

Most people are better at validating others or better at being there for others, but then, when it comes to themselves, they and you might resonate with this. You might not, but they tend to brush it off or tell themselves it's not that big of a deal, get over it, get it done and kind of just push through. And so what would shift for you if you started treating yourself like other people that you really cared about? And what if some of what's going on right now, what if at least some of the anxiety that you're feeling is you resisting feeling that way? It's very, very common for people to tell themselves this shouldn't be happening, I shouldn't be feeling like this, I should be feeling like X, I should be feeling like Y, and the definition of that is resistance. And resistance, although common, can create a lot of negative emotions and sensations in the body. What if there's not a right way to feel? What if you. Feeling like this is pretty typical for getting a new dog. What if you feeling like this is just a signal from you telling yourself okay, we need to change something right now.

Speaker 1: 6:04

Now, the next thing that I want you to do is to do something that you would be least likely to do when feeling overwhelmed, and that is to play. The last thing that you're probably giving yourself permission to do is to have fun and to play, because you have so many things on your to-do list, so many things to do, you don't have enough hours in the day, you can't get it all done, and that is you in fight or flight to some extent, and we need to bring you back into balance. Because sit with me for a moment, think about this If you were in fight or flight, are you going to be thinking through things you know in a really creative way? Are you going to be problem solving to the best of your ability? No, you're going to be operating from a place of fear. And when you're operating from a place of fear and lack, what is that going to create more of in your life? It's not going to make things more pleasant, more comfortable. It's not going to help you get things done in a way where you're showing up as your best self. Are you with me on this? Showing up as your best self? Are you with me on this?

Speaker 1: 7:20

So what if, today, you identify one thing that maybe you would have wanted to do as a child, as a kid, and you allow yourself to play in that way? There's no rules on this in terms of how big it has to be, how small it has to be, but something you would have wanted to do as a kid. I'll share a couple with you. For me, I loved coloring as a kid, and that's something until the last couple of years that I would not have taken time as an adult to color, because that is a quote, unquote waste of time. But what if it's not? What if it's not? Ice skating, going for a walk, going for a swim, going in the pool, anything that you would have liked to do as a kid? Roller skating, I don't know. You see me getting outside a lot. I'm like activities, anything that would feel good and nurturing for you.

Speaker 1: 8:15

Now, after you've allowed yourself to play, you validated yourself, you've allowed yourself to play do a brain dump, get all the gunk out of your mind, all the things that your mind is telling you I've got to do this, I've got to do that, I've got to get this done, I've got to get that done. Write it all down so that your brain doesn't have to keep track of it anymore. And it is documented and on paper. And once you've got it out on paper, allow yourself to let go of it in your mind, because I don't have to remember or keep track of this because it is documented now and now. This is how I refer to it.

Speaker 1: 8:53

Maybe I've talked about this on an episode before. Look at the list and I want you to really ask yourself is this a glass ball or is this a plastic ball? Meaning, if I drop this, if I don't do this, does it actually matter? And maybe don't listen to the first answer that your mind delivers here, because your mind is probably going to be like I've got to do all of it. No, I have to, it has to get done. But does it have to get done right now, truly, and so you can push back on yourself a little bit there Is this a glass ball? If I don't do it today, it will break something. Or is this a plastic ball, something that I want to do something that would be nice to do Identify those glass balls GBs, or those plastic balls PBs and label that brain dump. Now I'm really, really gonna challenge you and I want you to go back through that list after you're done and really ask yourself okay, is this a glass ball?

Speaker 1: 10:01

And maybe the follow-up question is here is it something that I have to do? Maybe it has to get done, but does it have to get done by me, or can I delegate it to somebody else, whether it's a partner or a friend, or maybe I hire somebody to go walk the dog that's a pretty affordable service, by the way. Just throwing that out there so you might have, like, shut off that idea from your mind, but when, in reality, there may be options that you've not yet considered, probably because you were in that fight or flight state. So now that we got you, brought you back down, got you to play, we're really looking at that list. We're going in with some practical shifts. Okay, can I delegate this to a partner, to a friend, to a family member? Can I hire somebody to take care of this dog, for instance? Okay, so you've got those practical shifts Now, yes, there's inner work here too, and I know that's what you're here listening to this podcast but I love to give the practical tips and the inner work, because both do matter.

Speaker 1: 11:09

I really want you to evaluate your life and to ask yourself how common is this for me? How often have I gotten myself into this pattern where I am so overwhelmed I feel like I cannot breathe? How common is this for me? What do I need to learn from this? And take out a journal and allow yourself to reflect and to dive in and not to edit anything that you're saying and just let it out, let it flow. What am I supposed to learn? This is a repeated pattern, which means that there is something to learn here. The universe will keep making something happen until you learn what you are supposed to learn from it.

Speaker 1: 11:58

Now, if you're like Steph, like I have no freaking idea, that's also okay.

Speaker 1: 12:04

You don't have to know today what you're supposed to learn from it.

Speaker 1: 12:07

Just open your mind to the possibility that you might receive an answer.

Speaker 1: 12:12

If you're asking good questions to your mind like this, the answers will come in.

Speaker 1: 12:17

They might not come in immediately, but just create that opening Like oh yeah, I want to know what's here for me, to learn what's next for me to overcome this and, of course, if you want assistance, these are the types of things that I guide women through every single day, because it can be hard to see your own blind spots, and I am really good about pointing out your blind spots and saying something to you, not glossing over it. So if you want help, send me a DM with the word academy, and I'd love to share more about how we can work together. I hope you have a beautiful rest of your week and I'll see you on the next episode. Thank you for listening today. If you're ready to heal, so that triggering situations no longer control you and so that you can feel empowered, brave and thrive in any situation, dm me the word brave on Instagram and I'll send you a training where you will learn three of the most common mistakes driven women are making that are keeping them stuck in negative emotions, and what you can do instead.