Reducing Overwhelm: Make Space for Your Thoughts and Feelings
Are you experiencing lots of different feelings, all at the same time? Is your brain overloaded with thoughts constantly running through your mind? Do you feel overwhelmed?
I think most people are experiencing some level of overwhelm right now. There’s just so much going on in the world, and in your personal life too.
One of the ways to reduce overwhelm, is to make time to sort through all your thoughts and feelings.
This requires SPACE.
Space in your heart for curiosity.
Space in your mind for reflection and retrospection.
Space in your body for the emotions to flow.
Space means physical space, digital space, and energetic space.
Physical space
Don’t underestimate the impact of your physical environment on your emotional and mental wellbeing. If you’re anything like me, clutter gets your heart rate up and you may not even be able to start making dinner until the kitchen is tidied up and clean.
This is true for most people, even if they don’t realize it.
There has been a lot of research on the impact of clutter and disorganization on our stress. Scientists have found that people’s cortisol levels go up when they see clutter or a mess in their physical environment. Cortisol is the hormone that is secreted when we experience stress, and too much cortisol is detrimental to physical health, most notably causing weight gain if it’s in our systems for extended periods of time. Decluttering can actually be part of your weight management strategy!
Think about your physical environment.
Is it cluttered or disorganized?
Does it feel good, or stressful?
What is the energy like – light or heavy?
Think about a space that makes you feel good. What is it that makes it feel good? It’s probably because its organized and tidy and clean.
Organized and tidy doesn’t need to mean sparse or minimal if that is not your style. But it does mean a space in which everything is intentional and where everything has a purpose.
Marie Condo, in her book The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up, advises us to ask, “Does this bring me joy?” for each knickknack, artwork, and piece of furniture that is part of our physical space.
Take a look at the spaces in which you spend the most time in.
Do you love everything in it?
Is there something that can be given away or sold?
What can be decluttered, filed, thrown away, moved or tidied up?
Is there a way to bring more joyful items into the room?
A few suggestions:
- Put up photos that bring back memories or remind you about someone you love.
- Find something with inspirational quotes or uplifting messages.
- Add candles, throw pillows or Himalayan salt lamps for colour and for good energy.
- Plants add so much to any room. Look for plants that you love the look of. And then make sure to buy a nice plant pot that goes with your décor or adds that little something extra to the room – like maybe something with a little sparkle.
- Treat yourself to fresh flowers on a weekly basis. It’s amazing how much flowers can lift your spirits.
Another tip for physical spaces is to create a habit of regular tidying up, instead of waiting until its overwhelming. This could look like scheduling 30 minutes on Friday afternoon to tidy up your office, do your filing, organize your books and papers, etc. For closets and bedrooms, go through and declutter and organize when the seasons change (i.e., in the spring and in the fall).
Digital space
This is a space that can get cluttered up very quickly but something that most people ignore. As with physical clutter, clutter in your digital world will also increase stress, feelings of overwhelm, and a general feeling of being disorganized.
Here are some tips for decluttering your digital space:
1. Organize all your apps on your phone. These tend to get piled up until you have multiple home screens and you need to constantly scroll around to find what you’re looking for. Take a few minutes tonight or this weekend to organize all your apps. Start with deleting the ones you don’t use. Put all similar or like apps into categories and label these categories with what makes the most sense for you. Examples of categories are Fitness, Social Media, Entertainment, Health, Travel, Productivity, and Loyalty Cards.
2. Curate who you follow on social media. It’s so important to surround yourself with people (digitally and IRL) who bring good into your life – whether this is inspiration, motivation, education, new ideas, fun, or laughter. Be mindful and intentional about what you listen to and what you watch. It all is absorbed by your conscious and subconscious brain and impacts your energy, mental health, emotional wellbeing and even your physical health more than you might think.
3. Declutter your inbox by unsubscribing from newsletters or notifications that don’t serve you. Keep only the subscriptions that give you content that is useful or beneficial in some way. (Speaking of newsletters with great valuable content – I would love for you to subscribe to mine.)
Energetic space
Energetic space is the energy we give to others and to our commitments. Think about all the ways in which you give of your energy. To your family, your children, your colleagues or team members, the committees or boards you sit on, the volunteer activities you participate in, all the times you hold space for friends, the energy you utilize to keep yourself healthy by working out or preparing healthy meals. All these activities require energy.
Take a look at your calendar with all your commitments.
Are all of these serving you?
Do all your commitments and activities bring you joy?
Which commitments feel like they are cluttering up your energetic space?
Is there something you can back away from or maybe stop altogether?
Where are you focusing energy that maybe can be directed elsewhere where it will serve you more and allow you to bring more of yourself of?
Hopefully some of these suggestions spark ideas for you on how to create more space in your physical, digital and energetic environments, to allow more mental space and more heart space to listen to yourself, sort through your thoughts and feelings, and reduce overwhelm***
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If you are looking for support with creating space for your thoughts and feelings, I can help. I invite you to work with me and learn about how I can help you live a genuine, fulfilled, and aligned life. Apply to work with me today.
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Vera is a Life Coach whose mission is to help women shine their light more brightly. Her signature program accelerates her clients’ connection to their inner wisdom, aligning them to their purpose, confidence, and inspired actions they can rely on, so that they can live a genuine and fulfilled life. Apply to work with Vera.
Vera hosts a podcast, Practical Wisdom from a Life Coach, which can be found on all podcast platforms.
She is also a Trailblazer with Happy Healthy Women.
Connect with Vera on Facebook, Instagram or LinkedIn and learn more about her at her website.
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