Do you have so much on your plate that you feel overwhelmed, unfocused and stressed?

You’re not alone. Most of the midlife women I know and coach are engaged in a juggling act trying to balance work, family and personal needs leaving them frazzled. They’re working longer hours, have more demands and are pressured to live perfect lives — one part Martha Stewart, two parts Sheryl Sandburg, with the parenting acumen of Clair Huxtable housed in Giselle’s body.

Feeling overwhelmed and unfocused isn’t just a mommy problem. It’s a human problem. Pressure to work more and live up to insane, unrealistic ideals spun by the media (to get us to buy more stuff) drives us crazy. Constant complaining about how busy we are fuels the frenzy.

Fall, when the hours of day and night are equal and the sun is in Libra, is an excellent time to harmonize your life. How do you stop the insanity and trade overwhelm for balance and focus? Here are 8 ways to trade the overwhelm for peace.

1. Slow Down

If you feel like you’re going 90 miles an hour and barely have time to catch your breath you need to get out of the fast lane. Take a breather – this can be a few moments and hour or two or an entire day or weekend.

By letting it go it all gets done. The world is won by those who let it go. But when you try and try, the world is beyond winning. – Lao Tzu

2. Opt out

There’s an art to remaining balanced and focused. It starts with letting go and opting out of the busyness trap. If you don’t like frenzy the first step is to become aware of the beliefs, thoughts and habits you have that fuel it. Do you load up your to-do-list to conform to a societal belief that being busy makes you worthy? Are you a people pleaser who can’t say, no? Are you uncomfortable with having periods of free time? If you answered yes and want to reduce overwhelm question your beliefs.

3. Take an inventory

When, where and with whom are you at your best and worst? What activities energize you? What drains you, generates overwhelm and wastes your time? What are your strengths and weaknesses? Can you find new ways to use your strengths so you stay focused and productive? Are there people in your life who are good at what you’re not who can help you?

4. Analyze where the time goes

You can decide how to spend your precious minutes. Look at your balance of work, play, love and health. What’s missing? Are you spending enough time with friends and family? Is there enough fun and love in your life? How’s your self-care? Write down exactly how you spend your time and then analyze it. This type of assessment is essential if you want your life to flow with grace, beauty and ease.

5. Pay attention to your feelings

Each of us comes with a built in GPS device called our emotions. Paying attention to them will guide you to a more pleasurable, less frenzied life. The moment you realize you are feeling off, overwhelmed, unbalanced, stressed, angry or frustrated pause and refocus. Engage in an activity that gets you back in balance. This type of energy management will lead you in a positive direction and provide you with the sustained energy you need to move forward without overwhelm.

6. Release stressful thoughts

Let go of what is stressing you out and triggering overwhelm. It’s not people, places and things that generate stress. It’s your stressful thoughts about situations that trigger overwhelm, worry and anxiety. As Wayne Dyer explains, “Peace is the result of retraining your mind to process life as it is, rather than as you think it should be.”

7. Reshape your brain

There’s a science to staying balanced and focused. Our brains have an incredible feature called neuroplasticity, which allows you to mold your mind. No matter how old you are or how difficult and stressful life feels, your brain can learn new tricks that increase peace and calm and enable you to work more joyfully and efficiently. Just like a river finds a new way to flow, neural pathways in your brain cut new channels and rivets that feed wellbeing.

How do you cut these new grooves? By replacing thoughts, beliefs and habits that don’t serve you with thoughts, beliefs and habits that do. It takes time, focus and self-compassion, essentially learning to treat yourself like a good friend with kindness rather than criticism.

You can optimize your brain. Just like your body needs a balance of macronutrients (i.e. carbs, protein and fats) and macronutrients (vitamins and minerals) to function properly, your brain needs a variety of activities to optimize brain matter.

According to David Rock and Daniel Siegel, creators of The Healthy Mind Platter you need 7 different brain “nutrients” or activities each day to optimize your brain health. These brain nutrients are: Sleep time, physical time, focus time, time-in, downtime, playtime and connecting time. (As a nutritionist, I’d like to add food time because your brain runs on glucose and needs healthy meals and snacks instead of calorie deprivation and dieting to run optimally.)

As Rock and Siegel explain:

8. Spend time in nature

Whatever you are facing – a health crisis, divorce or a failing marriage, being a care giver for teenagers and/or aging parents, job loss… spending time in nature will heal you. Even if you live in a city you can find some green space to roam in. In the words of Henry David Thoreau, “There are moments when all anxiety and stated toil are becalmed in the infinite leisure and repose of nature.”

You don’t have to feel overwhelmed and frenzied. You have a choice. You can design your day, your life and how you experience each moment.

Be mindful and use your awareness. When you feel overwhelmed or unfocused slow down, practice self-care, focus on what matters. Do more and more of what makes you feel good and less of what creates stress and overwhelm.  AND let whatever you do today be enough.

Need help getting back in balance? Let’s talk. Apply for a Clarity Call HERE.

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