What I’ve Learned About Being Overwhelmed

What I’ve Learned About Being Overwhelmed

This is my first Blog, and it has taken me a couple of weeks deciding if I should publish it or not…

It felt too raw and too personal. Being overwhelmed felt like a weakness I should keep hidden. Then this morning I was listening to a Podcast on my way to a medical appointment, and the host said if something makes you uncomfortable, its probably more real, and would be well worth publishing or posting to share with and connect with your audience.

So here goes…

Friday I sat down and I cried…..

It had taken me one hour to get from my Salon, down the stairs, across the road, up the next set of stairs to the car park to put another parking ticket in my car. Unfortunately it had been raining earlier and I was struggling to do the ticket in the rain. I then had to go back down the stairs, across the road, into the chemist to put a script in, waited for it to be processed, then my phone started ringing as I was leaving the chemist.

But I couldn’t answer it, I was so close to tears, I was overwhelmed, I just needed to get back to my salon. Why?

 

I’m currently on crutches, so I had my hands full and I couldn’t manage. So I waited until I got up the flight of stairs and back to the Salon to answer the phone.

For those of you who have been to my Salon in Abbott Street Cairns, you will know its not a very big distance, it should have taken 10-15 minutes, including waiting at the chemist!

That took ME 1 hour.

 

I rang my partner back who had been frantically calling me to see if I was ok, and I sat down on the couch and cried. I was exhausted, I was tired, I couldn’t cope, I was completely overwhelmed, I was in pain, frustrated, I had a To-Do List as long as my arm, zero ability to achieve all of those tasks and the weight of the world was on my shoulders.

 

Do you feel overwhelmed? Or have you ever felt overwhelmed ?

 

I hear this in my salon regularly. Too regularly in fact! Being overwhelmed seems to be far too common.

 

Is it because you have young children and you are trying to achieve one task. And it takes so much longer than it should?

When my kids were younger I remember trying to GET in the car. And most days it felt like such an ordeal. Do you have everything? Have you got spare clothes, nappy bag, bottles, food, toys, pram, carry pouch, water, your purse, the car keys, your children?!? Sometimes those things are just too much!

 

If you don’t have kids, don’t worry I’m sure this also relates to you.

Are you running out the door in the mornings, scrambling with your coffee and cereal bar, a million things to cram into the day. Is doing the household washing a struggle, or getting the house clean again?  Are you desperately trying to fit in going to the gym before work? Are you studying? Are you working? Have you got a demanding job? Or a job that you are bored in?

Are you trying to juggle life? Are you stuck in a cycle of procrastinating? Do you have so much to do you don’t know where to start?

 

Lots of things can lead to this level of overwhelm. I know that I am not alone…

 

I’m lucky my boyfriend listened to my recount of what had happened whilst I was blubbering, he talked to me until I pulled myself together, and I hung up telling him I WOULD be ok.

And I’m not sure that I believed myself… I realised I simply wasn’t coping.

 

So I took a deep breath, wiped my tears, got a drink of water (in a bottle so that I could carry it on crutches), turned the lights off and laid down on the couch, put my feet up, and I closed my eyes, just for a minute.

I thought to myself, everybody has bad days, everyone drops their juggling balls at one time or another. Sometimes we are simply juggling wayyy too many things and it’s so easy to get overwhelmed.

 

So what did I do next? Funnily enough, I picked up my phone and booked myself in to my own salon with one of my beautiful girls to have a one hour Revive Me Package, with a Full Body Massage & Facial. It meant I would have 1 hour with no phone, lights off, and I would give myself the opportunity to let all the drama of the day go. I left work that evening feeling better than I had in months! I felt like a new person.

 

Maybe it was to do with the treatment, or it could have been how kind the beauty therapist was to me (especially with my smudgy tear streaked makeup). Maybe it was something to do with having one hour where I wasn’t thinking about chores, work, the weekend, my beautiful kids, how many things I have to juggle. Or maybe it was that I simply had had some “Me Time,” an irreplaceable battery charger!

 

Whatever it was I’m not sure, maybe the whole combination. All I know is, when I got home to my boyfriend I was no longer a blubbering, overwhelmed, hot mess. I was calm & able to cope so much better. I’m not sugar coating things though. I was still in the same amount of pain, I was still exhausted, I still had just as many things to juggle, the difference was how I felt and my mindset!

 

By falling in a heap I realised that I needed to be gentler on myself.

Being a strong independent woman is freakin hard work!

So how I overcame this…

 

I stopped crying that day,

I made a plan for myself,

I put my mental health first & I had some “Me Time”

 

If I can give you a piece of advice, it’s to schedule in some “Me Time.”

 

That may look different for you than it does for me, but do it regularly and make sure its a priority. I speak to enough women every single week to know that we all need to listen to our inner voice, & hear what it is we need to cope and enjoy life. No matter what it throws at you.

 

I hope that you put in place a strategy so when those periods of overwhelm hit, you are not as overwhelmed as I was that day & you don’t feel you are the only one.

I’d love to hear what you do to recharge your batteries.

 

Sending you Positive Vibes

Kirsty xo