Feeling overwhelmed with stress and unsure how to reclaim your calm? We've all been there, juggling countless responsibilities and feeling like we're on the brink of burnout. In this Calm Compass podcast episode, I reveal how to identify and manage the unique ways stress and anxiety manifest in our lives. With my background as a stress and anxiety coach, I offer a fresh take on how to establish routines and rituals that truly resonate with your individual needs, without adding to the pressure of an already packed schedule.
We explore why stacking new habits, especially at the beginning of a new year, often sets us up for feelings of failure and how to break this cycle with sustainable practices that stick. I share strategies for rewiring your mind to navigate stress and anxiety symptoms more effectively, empowering you to externalize events and look at situations from alternative perspectives. Dive into an episode that's packed with actionable advice, helping you foster compassion and kindness toward yourself during life's inevitable challenges.
Feeling overwhelmed with stress and unsure how to reclaim your calm? We've all been there, juggling countless responsibilities and feeling like we're on the brink of burnout. In this Calm Compass podcast episode, I reveal how to identify and manage the unique ways stress and anxiety manifest in our lives. With my background as a stress and anxiety coach, I offer a fresh take on how to establish routines and rituals that truly resonate with your individual needs, without adding to the pressure of an already packed schedule.
We explore why stacking new habits, especially at the beginning of a new year, often sets us up for feelings of failure and how to break this cycle with sustainable practices that stick. I share strategies for rewiring your mind to navigate stress and anxiety symptoms more effectively, empowering you to externalize events and look at situations from alternative perspectives. Dive into an episode that's packed with actionable advice, helping you foster compassion and kindness toward yourself during life's inevitable challenges.
Speaker 1:
Hello and welcome to another episode of the Calm Compass podcast. So I think when we're feeling quite overwhelmed and anxious, we feel that we don't have time to support ourselves. So how can doing rituals and routines? It sounds like, well, that's not going to support me, so why should I even bother right me? So why should I even bother Right? And I really want to talk about this topic because I think that when we are I hear it so often, so many women that I'm talking to I'm so stressed, yet I don't have any time, and when we really delve deep into it, it's how they're utilizing their time and not prioritizing the things that actually reduce those anxiety symptoms.
Speaker 1:
Now, every person is very different. What looks like anxiety for one person may show up differently, and I want to talk about anxiety as a symptom rather than thinking of it a diagnosis. I think sometimes that we're living in a world that is incredibly fast-paced. We have so much on us, we're juggling multiple hats, responsibilities, and so we do have anxiety symptoms. I really want to speak into this first, that anxiety symptoms are going to show up very differently, but it's that feeling that in your body, you're thinking and you're worrying about certain circumstances or situations that maybe you have little to no control over, and so how it could manifest for you is it might manifest with the type of thoughts that you're having. So you're recurring the same thought, you're storytelling like and looking at it as the worst case scenario. Right, and you're looking at the worst case scenario and, instead of looking at possible solutions that really might support you, you're almost stuck in this thought pattern and you don't know how to get off. Now, when you have an anxiety disorder, it's very different from just feeling overwhelmed and having stress within your life. We all have stress within our life. We have never been under so much pressure. However, however I really want to speak into this that it's because we are expecting to do everything at this high level all the time, instead of actually delegating certain tasks. We're expecting to do it all, and so certain things are. We're increasing this feeling of overwhelm. We're having so much stress within our body.
Speaker 1:
So the reason that I call myself a stress and anxiety coach is, a lot of the time, we don't know how to interact with our thoughts that don't feel good or what don't feel comfortable. We don't know how to coach ourselves through this discomfort. We don't know how to support ourselves of. You know what's called externalizing from the event. So that means that when we're able to look at it from maybe a different viewpoint, instead of holding on and going, oh, that's the only way we can be more compassionate and more kind to ourselves through those times. So you know anxiety symptoms that may present, and then it can manifest into stress. And even though we may go I'm not stressed our body may be saying a different story.
Speaker 1:
So what I do that is very different from a therapist, from other coaches, is I'm utilizing a range of different modalities to support people to rewire their own mind. Because what happens and I see it time and time again is we get all excited, for example, when it's a new year, we get excited, it's the new year, so we stack on all these new habits that are not sustainable and then when the wobblies come out, our self-doubt comes out, our anxiety is loud. We drop all of those habits instead of looking at a more sustainable process that's going to support you. And that's really what I want to speak into today is we are almost setting ourselves up for failure by doing so much that is not sustainable and we want to look at, rather than going okay, adding habits of do this, x, y and Z, having more of the principles behind what's going to support your specific anxiety, symptoms of what you're feeling within your mindset, what you're feeling in your body, right, and so, when we can look at it, okay, well, what types of movement? How am I moving my body? Gosh, I'm really feeling quite frenetic or anxious. What do I need to do?
Speaker 1:
So it's recognizing within yourself. You know what do I need to do, and we all do it. We all have bad habits. We all are not perfect. We are all going through different challenges within our life, but it's being able to identify and have the awareness of what's playing out and also being kind and compassionate, that we aren't robots, and so when things happen, we can look at it and go.
Speaker 1:
Well, you know what I see? A bit of a pattern and maybe it's not a priority. You know, sometimes we have to understand is mental health and your well-being a priority for you? And maybe that you're so focused on what could be right so when I talk about priority I can't even speak is it's where you're basically categorizing what's important to you, what you're valuing, and sometimes it's unfortunately when things have such a negative detriment to our mental health. We take action, and when things are going well, when we assume things are going well, we don't do the inner work. We don't do it and then so everything falls apart and we can't. It's easier to maintain when you're in a mindset of open and reception right. So we're receptive to learning a new process, and so when we're doing new routines and practices, it's looking at what you're currently doing within your life.
Speaker 1:
Is there anything in your life that may be aggravating and we all do it in terms of social media? We all do it. I know that I am guilty of it, right? I'm not going to talk here and say I'm doing all of this and I've got it all worked out. I, too, work on this myself, right? So we all have certain habits that may be really supportive of our wellbeing, and sometimes we just need a bit of that accountability and a little bit of that redirection. So it could be that you know exactly what supports you. I'm talking about things. What supports you. I'm talking about things beyond social media, beyond, you know, numbing yourself through shopping. I'm talking about enriching activities such as reading, or maybe it's going for a walk, or certain types of activities, or painting or creativity.
Speaker 1:
We all have different things that we know are really good for us and for whatever reason, we allow us not to prioritise. Because we use the concept of busy right, we think of it as some sort of badge, but it's not when we can understand that it's how we're utilising our time and how we don't have to do it all. We can ask for help. We can actually say to our partner can you do this X, y and Z, even if you are in a situation where you are the primary caregiver for your children and working full time. It's having those conversations with your partner or with your extended support network so you can keep going. And basically, how I like to look at self-care is it's a necessity so you can actually have any quality of life. If you don't do it, you will notice the impact of your well-being. So it's really not always the best concept of self-care.
Speaker 1:
So it's looking at what am I doing every day for my mental health, my physical health, that is actually really enriching for me. What types of activities? How am I choosing to wake up in the morning? If you wake up in the morning lethargic, tired and before nine o'clock you've already had three coffees, then it may be giving you the evidence to review what you're currently doing even before you go to bed. How are you winding down your overactive mind to start getting in a more of a kapha, slowing down, meditative state? And it doesn't mean that I always do this, but if I notice that I'm feeling quite frenetic and it's harder to go to sleep, I start doing those practices again and again and I have more time at night to just slow down, decompress.
Speaker 1:
If I know that I've got a lot on my mind, I will actually do a huge brain dump and the hours before bed I might go and do a meditation, or it could be that I do some yoga or Pilates, right, and we can do that online. We can use looking at time, as I don't need to go to a studio, but I might be able to just do five, ten minutes because even if you feel a degree better, that is better than continuing of not doing anything. So I think it's really important of how we're viewing time, how we're looking at certain activities that we know in our heart are going to be really supportive. There's just a truck that's gone by, so I do apologize if that sound is coming through.
Speaker 1:
So maybe some takeaways that I want you to start thinking about is really, what activities do I know actually support my mental well-being and my physical well-being? So it may not be. It might be getting to the gym is difficult, it might be there that is difficult, but after I notice that I feel more energized or I feel calmer, and so really having a reflection on that and really thinking about what enriching activities you need. Okay, so if you found this podcast helpful, I would love you to share on your socials and tag us at Real Vision Life Coaching. Have the most beautiful day. Bye.