Overwhelm Tradition
It happens to the best of us. We schedule too many things and we become overwhelmed. Even I, your favorite yogi, has fallen prey to this conundrum. I was just thankful I had the tools to navigate the situation.
It happened last week when my schedule seemed to turn on me and subtly implode upon itself.
I am not sure exactly where I went wrong. I had the best of intentions. I truly wanted to be of assistance to all of these organizations. Had been eager to make the plans. Had even said to new offers that I am booked through October. No more group classes. No more new private clients.
And yet, I found myself last week with not one scheduling snafu, but three. With the last one, I forgot to show up at a kids’ summer camp. I literally forgot about and let down a bunch of kids. I felt like a garbage person.
When I realized the third thing I broke down crying. My husband came outside and asked me what was wrong and I explained the situation. He gave me a big hug and reminded me that I am, in fact, not a garbage person. That I am a big hearted person that said yes to too many things. And that this was an opportunity to do things differently moving forward.
Might I add, I have an awesome husband.
I still felt out of sorts after having let so many people down. So I made a post on social media about what had happened and I got tons of people reaching out reminding me of times I had been compassionate when they had dropped the ball. And reminders about how I am navigating so much and that mistakes will happen. And about how other people had similar experiences that week so I was not alone in my despair.
Feeling slightly better about myself, I sat down to think about what had happened.
First off, it is only my second summer in business. I think that I said yes to so many things out of fear. Fear that if I did not keep moving forward everything in my business would backslide and I would be a failure.
Second, I realized that my children had been in a summer camp for 4 hours a day, 5 days a week, for 6 weeks and I had packed my schedule full of networking to try to further my business. This went a little too well. I needed to acknowledge that I may actually be out of the fledgling stage of my business and all that hustle is no longer necessary for my business to thrive.
Third, this is also only our second summer in our house and our first summer with bedrooms (if you haven't been following me for long… on top of starting a business and homeschooling our kids, we are rebuilding from the ground up an old 7 bedroom farmhouse) so I said yes to 8 guests in 2 months this summer! WHAT WAS I THINKING!?! I actually had an amazing time with all my visitors, but next year, I will be more hygienic in my planning.
So basically, too many amazing things were happening and I got caught up in it all!
So why am I sharing all this with you? Because it’s important for you to know that I am human. And that, in times of overwhelm, I use the tools of yoga. Its also important for you to understand how to use the tools that I am regularly talking about, in real-life events.
When I felt like a garbage person, I used grounding mudras to help calm me (you can check out my IG for videos on grounding mudras). I used the Mindful Breathing exercise which I have described in previous blogs and on IG lives to help center me before sitting down to think about what had gone wrong. And then, once I was calmer, I could objectively sit down and view my actions through the lens of compassion and non-judgment so that I could understand the root of what was going on.
Now that I have addressed the issues, I can move forward in a different way. I am checking my schedule for the next day every night before going to bed to make sure I have everything planned out for the next day. Before I say yes to anything, I will address that fear and look at my schedule through the lens of sustainability before committing to anything. And third, I will not have less guests because I just need a life filled with love and that is what I will prioritize over my work :)
If overwhelm is something you deal with often, and you need help finding the tools to create balance in your life, then reach out today to set up your connection call. You don’t have to navigate this alone, I can help you.
