Get It Together, Weirdo

Conquering Mental Chaos: Steps to Start Climbing that Mountain of Overwhelm

• Sarah Bowser, That Weird Nerdy Mom • Episode 9

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How's your brain feeling right now?  Nice and calm, like a zen garden? Or are we more in the absolute cluster chaos central territory? If you're more in the chaos camp, don't worry, you're most certainly not alone. 

Discovering how to tackle that overwhelming mental chaos mountain can feel like an impossible feat. In this episode of the Get It Together, Weirdo podcast, host and coach Sarah Bowser explores practical strategies and unconventional approaches to help you conquer the anxiety and guilt that loves to plague your mind.

Sarah shares her personal experiences with overwhelm and burnout and the pressure to meet unrealistic expectations, emphasizing the importance of identifying your personal triggers and aligning your actions with your core values. Besides practical strategies like brain dumping and experimenting with different approaches to organization, you’ll learn the significance of having self-compassion, setting boundaries, and prioritizing your mental health to overcoming guilt and anxiety. 

So take some time this week to reflect on what truly matters to you. And if you want to stay in the loop on new episodes, posts, and other tidbits that Sarah shares, go to thatweirdnerdymom.com to hop on her email list, or join her for weekly coworking on Mondays. 

What you’ll learn in this episode: 

  • How societal pressures and unrealistic expectations can lead to burnout 
  • The importance of identifying your own personal triggers and aligning your actions with your core values to reduce anxiety and guilt
  • Practical strategies such as brain dumping and experimenting with organizational methods to manage mental chaos and reduce overwhelm
  • The significance of self-compassion, setting boundaries, and prioritizing mental health in your daily life to combat excessive guilt.


Noteworthy quotes from this episode:

“You're not letting anyone down by taking care of yourself.”

“When we align our actions with our core values, we start to reduce that overwhelm because we're no longer pulled in a million directions by things that don't really matter to us. It's like having a compass that always points us in the right direction, even when the storm of chaos is raging around us.”

“Between these societal pressures and our own inner critic, our brains create this perfect storm of mental chaos. And often, underneath it all, there are deeper fears. A fear of failing so much that we lose our jobs. Fear of not being good enough, being abandoned by our friends. Fear of not being loved or accepted by our family, and being excommunicated for being our chaotic selves. These fears fuel the anxiety and keep us stuck in this cycle of overwhelming guilt. But we can start to unmask this chaos and find some clarity.”

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Get it Together, Weirdo

Ep. 9: Conquering Mental Chaos: Steps to Start Climbing that Mountain of Overwhelm


Welcome to Get It Together Weirdo, the podcast where we dive into ways to help you figure out how you can tackle your to dos, keep track of your side quests, and manage your time in a way that works for your brain so you can focus on nerding out on the things that make you do a happy dance. I'm Sarah Bowser, your get your shit together coach and resident weirdo here to guide you on your journey. So let's get it together, weirdo.

Hello. Hello my wonderfully weird friend. Welcome back to another episode of Get it Together Weirdo where we tackle the chaos in our brains and find ways to actually get stuff done without losing our minds. Let me ask you, how's your brain feeling right now? Nice and calm like a Zen garden? Or are we more in the absolute cluster chaos central territory? If you're more in the chaos camp, don't worry, you're most certainly not alone. Discovering how to tackle that overwhelming mental chaos mountain can feel like an impossible feat. So today we're going to explore some practical strategies and unconventional approaches to help you conquer the anxiety and guilt that loves to plague your mind. Sound good?

So I have always been the queen of saying yes to everything. Whether it was something someone else asked me to do or something I asked myself to do, totally didn't matter. I didn't want to let anyone down, especially someone I loved and respected. But ultimately this people pleasing and perfectionist tendency led me straight into a pit of extreme overwhelm and burnout.

I remember this time in my life when I was juggling a job where I was more abused than appreciated, struggling to make it through my undergrad degree and planning my wedding all at once. It was a hot mess and I was drowning. I was coming into work an hour early, staying an hour late, tackling all of the fire drills that my team lead couldn't be bothered to handle. I was trying to maintain a 4.0 grade point average because I felt like that was the only way to make my family proud and trying to plan the wedding of my dreams on top of it. Good Lord. I felt like I was failing at everything, constantly worried about disappointing people, and the anxiety was crushing. I felt like I was carrying the weight of the world on my shoulders, the weight of everyone else's overbearing expectations. But I didn't know how to put any of it down. And I'm guessing that sounds familiar, right?

So what's at the root of all this chaos? Why do we end up feeling so overwhelmed and anxious? A lot of it comes down to our triggers. And yeah, I know there's a lot of judgment these days around this word, but this is what they are, those things that set off our anxiety and guilt, often without us even realizing it. And for me, it was the fear of letting people down and the unrealistic expectations I put on myself. I thought I had to be perfect, that I had to do it all, that I had to make everyone happy. And society certainly doesn't help with these triggers that we may have, with its constant pressure to be productive, to achieve more, to always be on. Between these societal pressures and our own inner critic, our brains create this perfect storm of mental chaos. And often underneath it all, there are deeper fears. A fear of failing so much that we lose our jobs. Fear of not being good enough, being abandoned by our friends. Fear of not being loved or accepted by our family, and being excommunicated for being our chaotic selves. These fears fuel the anxiety and keep us stuck in this cycle of overwhelming guilt.

But we can start to unmask this chaos and find some clarity. Start off with reflecting on what truly matters to you. Not what society says should matter, not what your parents or your boss or your Instagram feed says should matter, but what actually lights you up. What are your core values? What is your definition of success and fulfillment? For me, I had to take a step back and realize that my worth isn't tied to how much I can do for others or how perfectly I can perform. It wasn't about getting a 4.0 GPA and completing all of the projects at work, whether they were my projects or someone else's. I had to redefine what success meant to me, which wasn't about pleasing everyone else, but about living a life that aligned with my values of creativity, authenticity, and connection. When we align our actions with our core values, we start to reduce that overwhelm because we're no longer pulled in a million directions by things that don't really matter to us. It's like having a compass that always points us in the right direction, even when the storm of chaos is raging around us.

But what about the day to day chaos? How do we actually organize our minds and our lives so we can get a grip on all of this? One of the best strategies I found is getting all of your thoughts out by just writing them out in whatever way makes the most sense for you. If you're anything like me, your brain can feel like a tangled ball of yarn. There's so many thoughts, so many ideas, worries, to do’s, all jumbled up and tangled together. Just grab a journal, a notebook, an old envelope, a scrap of paper from your kiddo's school folder that doesn't need to be returned, or even open a blank document on your computer and just do a brain dump. Write down everything that's swirling around in your head. Don't worry about it making it neat or organized, just get it all out. This can help you see what's really going on up there and start to make sense of it. And once you've got it all down, start piecing together the bits that logically go together, the things that need to flow in a certain order for you, put together to do lists, your own version of a digital planner, sticky notes, whatever works for you. The key here is to break down all of the overwhelming tasks in your brain into smaller manageable steps. And when you can see what you need to do laid out in front of you, it's a bit less scary.

And seriously, don't be afraid to experiment. I know I've said it before, but it's really so important. Experimentation is the key to unlocking new perspectives and finding what truly works for you. You don't know what you don't know. Maybe you try a new hobby, explore a different philosophy, or even just rearrange your schedule to see if it feels better. The point is to stay curious and open minded. We're all constantly growing and evolving and what works for you today might not work tomorrow. And that's okay. When you approach your life with the mindset of continuous growth and learning, you give yourself the freedom to change and adapt without judgment.

Here's the catch though. Guilt can be a sneaky little bitch. It creeps in and whispers that you should be doing more, that you're not doing enough, yet you're not enough. Excessive guilt and ruminating constantly on that guilt can be incredibly detrimental to our mental health. And it's something that we have to actively work to overcome. One of the most powerful ways to do this is through self compassion. It's all about recognizing that you're doing the best you can with what you have. It's about forgiving yourself for past mistakes, for not being perfect, for being human. And it's about setting realistic expectations and healthy boundaries so you're not constantly running yourself into the ground.

So as you go through your week, I want you to practice shifting from self criticism to self compassion. When that inner critic starts to nag at you, take a deep breath and remind yourself that you're worthy of kindness and forgiveness. You don't have to be perfect, you just have to be you. And remember, it's okay to say no. It's okay to set boundaries. It's okay to prioritize your mental health and well being over everything else. You're not letting anyone down by taking care of yourself. You're actually showing up in a more authentic, healthy way.

So take some time this week to reflect on what truly matters to you. What are your core values? How can you align your actions with those values to reduce overwhelm and anxiety? And how can you practice self compassion when things get tough? If you want to stay in the loop on new episodes posts, other tidbits I share, hop on my email list or join us for weekly Co Working on Mondays. I'd love to have you in the community.

Thanks so much for listening today. You can find complete show notes, links to resources mentioned, as well as a link to our coworking community on our website thatweirdnerdymom.com 

Be sure to leave a rating or review and check me out on Instagram at that_WeirdNerdyMom. Feel free to shoot me a DM. I'd love to hear from you. Until next time, my wonderful weirdo. You've got this. Bring out your weird.