Feeling Overwhelmed in Your Journey is a Choice
If this sounds hard keep reading, because I can guarantee it will leave you encouraged.
First off, that initial feeling of overwhelm is NOT a choice. Keyword being initial — it's your reaction to the situation or circumstances.
It's the continued overwhelm that is a choice.
Just like with our thoughts, we can't control our initial feeling. We can't always control our gut reaction BUT how we continue to respond IS a choice.
Feelings don't have to dictate your MINDSET.
How to shake that feeling of overwhelm —
Move your body — something about movement helps you reset what's going on in your head!
Come up with a plan — whether for workouts or food or schedule or routine or priorities, get pen to paper!
Take things OFF of your plate — whittle it down the most important things for YOU and move the rest to tomorrow.
Now this DOES mean taking care of your body. What it doesn't mean is be a slob and throw it ALL out the window.
I'm talking do things that fill your soul. Go for a walk. Put your phone in another room and be fully present with your kids most of the day. Cook dinner together.
Next time you feel overwhelmed, pick one of the 3 things I suggested!
Are you ready to go from overwhelmed and stuck to disciplined and consistent in your journey?
Book your Starting Point Session and let's get you on track to your healthiest life!
FULL TRANSCRIPT
[00:00:00] If this episode title seems a little harsh. I want you to keep listening because I take an angle that I don't think you will expect necessarily when it comes to that feeling of overwhelm. And I think it will leave you encouraged today because as moms, we all have moments of overwhelm in so many different areas, not just in our journey, but in all the areas of life overwhelm can come up and.
No matter how far out postpartum that we are. There is a lot. Just in the world, informationally when it comes to fitness and nutrition and a journeys and being moms. So let's talk today about why overwhelm is a choice and why long term you do have control over it. Let's go.
Hey, mama. Welcome to the tough love mom podcast. I know you're here because you're ready to get consistent and finally lose that weight. And you're not afraid of a little tough [00:01:00] love, you know, what to do to lose weight. But following through on those things feels impossible. You wish you could just feel like you're strong, confident self again.
I want to be a good example for your little ones, but you get thrown off by mom guilt and the unpredictability of motherhood. It's frustrating taking on your journey. Postpartum is hard, but it's not impossible. Hey, I'm Liz and I've been where you are. I gained a lot of weight in my pregnancies. I. 90 pounds.
And then 60 pounds, I needed to lose that weight to take control of my health. And honestly just wanted to feel like myself again, with a sustainable approach to weight loss, simple consistency in working on my mindset. I lost it all in just over a year, both times. And I'm here to help you do the same. I believe that we have an ingrained ability to figure out what we need to do, make it happen and do it in a way that OS the world.
If you're ready to stop falling off the wagon, create solid routine and healthy. And finally feel your best inside and out all while enjoying D nuggets on your [00:02:00] salad, you are in the right place. We're about to transform your journey. My friend get pumped up. It is tough. Love time.
Now, one of the biggest things that I find helps flight against that feeling of overwhelm. And we'll talk about a few of those things later on, but one of the best is coming up with a plan of. And taking it on simply whatever it is, that's overwhelming you. So if there are pieces of your journey, whether it's your fitness or your nutrition, or trying to get into a good routine, and it feels like you need to do it all at once, and it's creating that feeling of overwhelm in your journey in your life in your day to day, maybe it's keeping you frozen and stuck from doing anything, or maybe you get started and then you get overwhelmed and then you fall off the wagon whatever's happening.
And that overwhelm is coming. The starting point sessions that I coach women through is the solution to that feeling of overwhelm specifically in your journey. So that's part of why I'm teaching on this today, but I just wanna encourage you as you're listening, if you're going. Yep. [00:03:00] That's me. Yep. I need to hear this right now.
And I. Still have that feeling of overwhelm. And I just want a solid, clear, laid out plan. That's going to help me over time, figure out how to make this journey sustainable, how to make weight loss happen and stick, and how to create a lifestyle that actually feels like me. It feels like. Something I want to do.
I don't feel like I'm being forced to eat healthy or to work out consistently or to do whatever. I don't feel like I'm doing this because I'm being told to I'm doing this because I chose my starting point and I followed through and made it part of who I am. I chose my next stepping stone and I made it part of who I was by being consistent.
That's what we do on these starting point sessions. Is it a long process? But is it transformational? Will it actually change your journey? Will it actually change how you see yourself? In the realm of fitness and in the realm of nutrition. Absolutely. So if you're ready to book your starting point session and get that overwhelmed outta here [00:04:00] and start feeling good about how you're showing up, how you're being consistent and how you're taking things on in your postpartum journey.
I want you to go to the tough love mom.com/coaching. All the information. Is there, all of the pricing, you can go book it right now. And I want you to do that before you sit back and overthink before you sit back and go, oh, I'll just try to figure it out on my own because that's when we get overwhelmed, I want you to fight against this.
I wanna be there with you alongside you, guiding you through that process of figuring out your starting point, taking on one change at a time. So. Sticks and stays sustainable and doesn't feel overwhelming. Okay. So that's the tough love mom.com/coaching. Go book your session, AAP so we can get that figured out.
Okay. So first off, I wanna talk about overwhelm just in general. when we feel that, because like I said, in the intro as moms overwhelm comes up a lot in a lot of different areas, I would be totally lying to you. If I said I didn't feel it all [00:05:00] the time. Like I get that feeling of overwhelm when my kids are super loud and they're all over the place.
Stimulate. I get overwhelmed, uh, by like the noise and the sound and the visual of like my boys wrestling and being crazy. Right. So that happens. Sometimes I have a lot on my to-do list, a lot on my plate and that can get overwhelming. So I wanna encourage you that that initial feeling of overwhelm is not necessarily a choice.
That's kind of like a natural response, a natural reaction to the situation or circumstances you find yourself. what I believe is that it's, that continued overwhelm, that continued feeling of overwhelm. That is a choice that you're choosing to continue to feel just like with our thoughts, we cannot control the initial one that comes into our head.
It's a reaction, it's a response based on our past experiences, based on our past in general. And however you [00:06:00] initially respond within your mind to something is. It's it's just ingrained. It's it's been part of who you are, but it's how you choose to respond with your thoughts. That makes a difference.
Right? Overwhelm in my opinion is no different. What we do with that feeling is a choice. We cannot always control our gut reaction, our gut feeling, that initial response that we have, but how we continue to respond to those circumstances is a choice. Feelings do not have to dictate your mindset. They don't have to DIC dictate your responses to everything down the road.
You don't have to keep being overwhelmed and keep responding from the state of overwhelm. I just don't believe that's necessary. I don't believe. Productive. And I do think there are ways we can handle that feeling of overwhelm in a way that is realistic and doable and sustainable. So we'll talk about that in a minute, but honestly, your feelings shouldn't be dictating anything in your life.
We have control over our [00:07:00] thoughts. We have control over not necessarily our circumstances, but how we respond to them, both in our minds and emotionally. So that feeling of overwhelm it's. Again, I feel it all the time, but I deal with it. I confront it. I take action. And we'll talk about what that is specifically in a minute, but I do things to combat that overwhelm.
So I'm not just stuck in this state, right. That feeling doesn't have to stay so how to shake it. How can you shake this feeling of overwhelm? Get it outta here. And. Let it just control you. And again, there are gonna be days when there is just so much going on. Maybe it's like super loud in your house. The kids are just, you know, on another level today, your plate is super full.
I mean, I'm, I'm literally speaking from this place. Overwhelm has the ability to get a stronger hold in my life right now. Cause we're preparing to move. Um, I'm with my kids full time, uh, in the past they've been at daycare like once or twice a week. that's a change. [00:08:00] Um, one of my kids does not nap at all.
So I get maybe an hour, a day in the middle of the day to myself. I cannot stay up till midnight. Like my body does not do that. I go to sleep early, so I just don't have a lot of time that's for me. And I'm used to that. Um, I like that I crave that, but I'm in a space where there's a lot going on in my life right now.
So there is absolutely. , I'm more of an ability for overwhelm to take hold. So I'm not speaking from a place of, uh, I'm currently in this with you right now, mama. And this is how I personally shake it when it comes up. And again, there's days when it's easier to shake and there's days when it's harder to shake that feeling of overwhelm.
But I do think it is possible every single time you feel that way to respond in a productive way. And these are some of those productive things you can do. to help shake that feeling of overwhelm. So the first move your body. And , I like to do this proactively. I always start my day with a workout, whether it's a nice long walk or whether it's an actual [00:09:00] workout in our garage gym, I move my body proactively before I can even feel overwhelmed.
I get up before my family and. I get up and I go workout, go move my body. I do that because if I don't start my day, that way sometimes getting set up to go workout with my kids, whether it's a walk or they're in the garage gym with me doing my workout, uh, that's a little more overwhelming cuz I'm dealing with my children and trying to get them situated, keep them safe, you know, all that stuff while I'm also trying to take care of my body.
But moving your body in general is something that you can do consistently that can. Shake that feeling. There's something about movement, like physical movement that helps you reset what's going on in your head? Um, there is definitely like a mind body connection. I could geek out over that stuff. I love learning about it, but when you actually move your body, especially if it's it's in a state of stress or overwhelm or.
just, yeah, like feeling of tightness. You're like, I've got a lot going on and I feel like I'm white, knuckling it, moving your body creates a [00:10:00] release that actually helps free you from that. So whether you do movement proactively, like I do, because I know there's gonna be a few moments. If not, a lot of moments of overwhelm my day.
I choose to move my body proactively. Whether you do that or you do it in response to that feeling of overwhelm, it is one of the best ways I think, to temporarily shake that feeling of overwhelm. Another thing is to come up with a plan and I say this very generically, cuz. Like I said, you could be overwhelmed in a lot of different areas of your life.
Now, when we're specifically talking about your journey, cause that's what we focus on here. I want you to come up with a plan for anything really, to do your journey. It can be for workouts. What, what plan ahead the week? What days are you doing? Which workouts and then just stick to it that takes off of your plate, the decision making on a day to day basis.
You're just planning ahead. Um, come up with a plan for what you're going. whether that means you're planning your dinners ahead of time or you're meal, prepping your lunches or whatever it is. [00:11:00] Make a plan, come up with something. For your food, or maybe you need to kind of sit down and plan out, okay, what would work for a routine or a schedule in this season of life?
Um, or just getting, you know, pen to paper and writing down your priorities, cuz you've got too much on your plate, whatever it is. When you come up with a plan, what that is doing is taking the day to day and the moment to moment decisions that you're having to. Out of the picture, you're doing those decisions ahead of time when you have the space and the energy to make those decisions.
And then when it comes to that moment, you just get to follow through on what you already planned. And what that does is take off of your plate, the need, and the half to do that decision making in the moment when you might not be in the best state of mind, you might not have the best circumstances surrounding you.
There might be kids tugging at your shorts and, you know, trying to get your attention when you're trying to think of what do I cook for? That doesn't sound very fun. That sounds overwhelming. Right? So I've been there. That's why I'm saying it, but come up with a plan. It's a really good way to shake and [00:12:00] proactively prevent that overwhelm or just make it, you know, hit a little bit less in the moment.
now the last thing. And I've said this a few times, but take some stuff off of your plate. Uh, Whit them down. Like the things that you do, the commitments that you have to the most important things for you and move the rest to tomorrow. I do this a lot to be honest, especially in this season right now in my business, uh, with a podcast, there's a lot that I'm like, you know what.
It is important that I do that eventually, but it can wait and I can move that to tomorrow's to-do list. I can move that to tomorrow's task list or next week's because today I need to sit down and have dinner with my family and not be stressed about. Trying to get this done and also cook dinner at the same time.
Like it just, no, I it's a boundary. I won't cross, uh, I used to do stuff like that where I would be working while I'm cooking or trying to do this and that at the same time. And it's just, I need those boundary lines. And I think when we cross those a lot and we're trying to [00:13:00] juggle too much on our plates or too many plates with all these big potatoes loaded on 'em, I don't even know.
But when you have too much on your plate, you do need to take stuff off to make sure that. you're balanced to make sure that you've, you can, you can do the rest tomorrow. And I think as moms, we have this like burden on our shoulders that we put there ourselves to do all the things when really it's okay for you to go, you know, what's most important right now is my health, my family, and our mindsets, like our mentality, our mental health.
And, you know, if cleaning the windows and getting the dishes loaded into the dishwasher, it's important to you, but it's not. those main priorities do tomorrow. There's so many mornings. I'm like, you know what? I'll do the dishes after breakfast tomorrow morning. I'm just gonna leave the sink full tonight and go to bed.
Cause sometimes sleep is what you need. So. This does mean I do wanna pref not preface. I wanna end this with it does mean taking care of your body. Again. I said your [00:14:00] health, that's like mental, physical, and emotional you're being present with your family. Those are things that fill your cup. There's not many other things on that list that really need to be done on a daily basis and need to be taken care of.
So I do believe very strongly that you taking care of yourself. is a piece of this on a daily basis that can't get moved to tomorrow. If you have a workout planned and you know, that movement will be good for, again, releasing that stress, releasing that feeling of overwhelm, but you choose to move it to the next day.
You know what. Maybe you really don't need to, maybe you do need to be disciplined in that moment and move. Okay. This doesn't mean moving, moving stuff off of your plate or off of your to-do list to tomorrow does not mean I'm giving you and this like little tough love for you. It does not mean I'm giving you the freedom to be a S slob and throw everything out the window.
Okay. Just gonna call it like it is what I'm talking about is things that fill your soul, go for a walk. You know, maybe you planned a more intense workout and you're just not feeling. I need some release. I [00:15:00] need some peace and quiet. I need to see some outdoor nature. I'm gonna go for a walk instead. Okay.
Maybe it means instead of unwinding, by scrolling on your phone, putting your phone in another room and having a conversation with your husband or with your kids, right. Cooking dinner together. Instead of trying to rush through it with the TV on and short order cooking for everyone, you know, letting your kids be part of the cooking process.
If you've got time for that, there are things. are really important for our health, but I think that also fill our cup personally, and as moms. Might in the moment when we're overwhelmed, feel really hard to do like there's days when I'm just, there's so much going on. I'm so busy. I really don't wanna involve my kids in the cooking of dinner.
But when I do, it's so much more precious of a moment, it feels so much slower that overwhelm honestly goes out the window unless, you know, my kids get too close to the oven or something and I'm like, no, stay away, stop running in the kitchen. We have those moments too. But I really think that when we're in that state of overwhelm, our judgment [00:16:00] gets clouded by.
control, wanting to control the situation when really we just need to involve others. We need to bring our family in. We need to bring them close. We need to involve them in the process. So, you know, if that means, okay, I might not be able to get this intense workout done that I wanted to get done or eat this, you know, meal prep this whole week.
I can only cook for tomorrow. and then you get to involve your kids in it. You get to take 'em on the walk. You get to say, Hey, help me, you know, chop these veggies up or put 'em in this container so we can cook 'em tomorrow. That means a lot to them. And it's gonna feel really good to you too, even though when you are feeling overwhelmed, logically you're going.
I don't know. That just seems so unproductive. It seems so inefficient. That's where my brain goes. I'm like, oh, that's so inefficient. I'm gonna have to do more. I'm gonna have to give more instructions, but it's actually really cup filling. And I'm just speaking from experience here. So. You know, next time you're feeling overwhelmed.
What I want you to do is pick one of these is that you need to go move your body. You need to go like drop what you're doing and go for a walk for September consistency, [00:17:00] challenge, 30 minutes. , you know, you need to go do that. Maybe you need to come up with a plan for the area that's overwhelming you the most, whether it's your time management, your priorities, your workouts, or what you're eating throughout the week, come up with a plan for that.
The other thing you could do is start taking stuff off of your plate, saying, I'm gonna move this to tomorrow. This doesn't need to be done today or this week, or this month I can do it later. I don't need to stress about it right now. Pick one of them. Just pick one, move your body, come up with a plan or take things off your plate.
Do something the next time you feel overwhelmed instead of letting it take hold. Okay. If you need help simplifying the pieces of your journey, especially coming up with a plan, I can help you with that on a starting point session, but I'm serious. You are very capable of doing all. All three, you are very capable and equipped to tackle and combat overwhelm.
When it comes up, it does not need to control your life. It does not need to control how you're feeling day to day, moment to moment. Yes, motherhood is overwhelming, but I really don't think the messaging [00:18:00] that's out there about, you know, mom, life is so hard and the Mo hashtag mom struggle. yes. Motherhood is hard.
Yes, it is a struggle sometimes. Yes, it absolutely brings a lot more overwhelm than I have ever felt in my life before, but we don't have to be victims to that. And I wanna equip you with the things that you can do to combat that feeling of overwhelm. Because again, it should not. Does not. And if you're a listener here, it's not going to, it will not control you in the day to day.
Okay. Remember that, remember that overwhelmed does not have to control you in the day to day. I'm not gonna allow it. You keep listening to me. You're gonna keep remembering that I'm not gonna allow you to feel overwhelmed in the day to day. You can, you can, can, can take it on. And I just wanna encourage you today to do one of those three.
Go move your body. Go, come up with a plan or go get some stuff taken off your plate, move it to tomorrow. Do what's most important right now because overwhelm. Will not control you as a tough love mom. Okay, [00:19:00] love you. Go get after it before you go. Thank you for spending this time with me on the tough love mom podcast.
If this episode encouraged you in any way, the number one way you can thank me is to leave a review. Letting me know how this show has impacted you. Then send this episode to another mom friend or. Take a screenshot, post it on social media and tag me so I can personally thank you for helping me on this journey to impact thousands of moms.
I'm so grateful to be on this journey with your sister until next time. Get after it.
