29. Overwhelmed? Here’s How to Identify and Fix Life’s Imbalances

Ever feel like life is just a bit off? Maybe you’re overwhelmed, or certain areas of your life aren’t getting the attention they need. In this episode of The Nurses’ Breakroom with Jenny Lytle, RN, we’re talking about how to take a quick, non-judgmental snapshot of your life using the Wheel of Life tool. Learn how to identify what’s working, what’s not, and simple ways to shift your energy to feel more balanced. Download your free Wheel of Life worksheet at https://jennylytle.com/wheel and start your self-care reset today! 

3 Action Steps for Podcast Listeners:

1. Fill out the Wheel of Life worksheet https://jennylytle.com/wheel to see where you’re thriving and where you may need a shift.
2. Choose one low-scoring area and brainstorm small steps to improve it.
3. Track your progress over the next few weeks and adjust as needed.

If you're feeling overwhelmed, burned out, or like there’s never enough time, I’ve got something just for you! Head to https://selfcareisntselfish.com to grab your FREE copy of my book, Self-Care Isn’t Selfish: The Compassionate Nurse’s Step-by-Step Guide to Personalized Stress Relief. It’s packed with simple, effective strategies to help you prioritize your needs—without guilt—so you can feel energized, focused, and ready to take on the day. Go to https://selfcareisntselfish.com 

Looking for connection with people who get the stress and self-care struggles of nurses and caregivers? Check out https://thenursesbreakroom.com

Connect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennylytlern/

More ways to connect here: https://linktr.ee/jennylytle

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:29

Hello and welcome back to the Nurse's Break Room with Jenny Lytle, rn. Today we're going to focus a little bit on what happens when we do get a little out of balance. I know for me there's times when I add just a few more good things, I say yes, a little too often, and the next thing I know I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed or maybe just a little bit of unease, just that kind of unsettled feeling that we can get when we've got too much on our plate and not enough time to deal with all of it. And I know that when I get like that, I'm not showing up as my best self for me and the people I care about, and I'm not able to do the things that I want to do in the way that I want to do them. And so I from time to time think it's really important to just take a quick snapshot of where we are in terms of how things are going in different areas of our lives. And one of the best ways and easiest ways to do that is to look at a wheel of life and just quickly fill that out. And now I don't know if that's something that you have done anything with before. It is something that is included in my book, and I also encourage all of my clients to do this regularly, but you can go to my website and get a copy at JennyLytlecom slash wheel W-H-E-L and just take a quick moment to take a look at that.

Speaker 1: 2:01

So, basically, what you do is you look at these eight areas of your life and you go through it rather quickly. You don't overthink it, you don't judge yourself for the answer that you're giving, and you're doing a response from one to 10, where one is really it couldn't be much worse and 10 is it couldn't be much better and so you do that for each of these areas of your life, and so the most typical ones are finance, personal growth, health, friends and family, significant other, recreation, spirituality and career. And then you look and see what ones are rating high, what ones are rating low, because it's very easy, when life gets to feeling hectic, to think you know what everything is awful. Or maybe, when things are going great, hey, everything's really good, and maybe that's the case. But more often than not there's a bit of a difference. There's ones that are doing really well and then there's ones that are quite a bit lower, and so it's just it's nice to be able to see this in black and white and just see okay, where are these areas that maybe I'm neglecting a little bit and how could I maybe transfer some of the energy or some of the processes, the habits that I have that have made these other areas higher? How can I use those to bump up my other scores?

Speaker 1: 3:24

And for me, I know that planning and productivity has really been something that has been on the horizon as something that I need to deal with, because I do have a lot of things going on, like I'm sure many of you do as well, and so to be able to do those things and to be able to live an enjoyable and authentic life when I'm talking about self-care and stress relief, I know that's something that I needed to step into. So I am now working with a coach, working through a program about productivity and project management and being able to really focus on those things and use my time more effectively, because there's only so many hours in the day, but I know that I can be using my time better. Another area of focus for me right now is my physical health, because I am going to be 50 in September this year and, honestly, I'm really excited about that, but my goal is to be healthier than I've been, and the reality is I've been overweight for many years and I have been pretty healthy overall. Thankfully, that's only going to last so long, because I know that I'm not doing all the things that I need to be doing to make myself as healthy as possible, and so that's an area that I am working on and feeling pretty good about that.

Speaker 1: 4:49

I've got to stay on track too, and it's easy to let little things go by the wayside go by the wayside. So I just encourage you to take a little bit of time to look at the wheel of life and see where you are with things, because that's the first step of the process. We need to see where we are now and then think about where we want to go and how we're going to get there, and so I just encourage you to grab that wheel and fill it out, and then I'd love it if you would just go ahead and respond to this. You can just send me a quick text and let me know what you thought about that. And until next time, remember, self-care isn't selfish. It's essential if we wanna continue to care for others and live our best lives. Have a great week.