3 Ways to Overcome Overwhelm When Life Feels Chaotic (+ 1 Bonus Tip!)

Episode Summary: Feeling overwhelmed by the chaos of the world and your own life? You’re not alone. In this episode, Michelle shares three actionable ways to reduce stress and navigate uncertainty. From decluttering and taking intentional breaks to leaning on your community, these practical tips will help you regain control and feel more grounded. Plus, stick around for a powerful bonus tip that most people overlook!

In This Episode, You'll Learn:

• How to purge and let go of what no longer serves you
  
  
• The importance of taking short, intentional breaks
  
  
• Why community support is key to overcoming overwhelm
  
  
• A bonus tip that will shift your perspective on asking for help

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Transcript

If there's one thing we all have in common right now, it's that the world feels a little chaotic and very much uncertain and many of you have lots of things going on in your own personal lives too. The world that feels out of control and maybe your lives are feeling a little out of control right now too. 

Today I wanted to share with you three ways that I reduce my stress and feel less overwhelmed when things are feeling chaotic, either out of desperation or out of preparation for when things become chaotic. I don't want this season because hopefully this is just a season to become your constant and also stick around to the end.

'cause I have one bonus tip that's pretty obvious, but most people don't like to do.    📍  📍  After a lifetime of prioritizing everyone else's needs over your own, do you feel like you don't know who you are anymore? Your default mode is to silence yourself, to protect the comfort of those around you.  You may be at a low place after a loss of a person, job or relationship, asking yourself, who am I?

Or maybe you're moving into this next phase of your life, wanting for it to be different. Asking yourself, who do I wanna be now?  You are not alone. Your health and your wellbeing are your biggest assets. So when you prioritize yourself, you're able to create long lasting sustainable impact. It's time for you to prioritize yourself and power your mission.

It's time for you to love your life on purpose. I'm Michelle Vande, hay certified holistic life coach and trauma sensitive yoga facilitator. To mission-driven leaders and business owners around the world, let's explore who you are and discover who you want to become because you are worth it.     📍 If you are new to my channel, I put out a new episode every two weeks on Tuesdays about loving your life on purpose.

So be sure to subscribe so you don't miss an episode.  Let's talk about the three ways that I overcome overwhelm when things are feeling chaotic. And this is such a common theme right now when I've been talking to clients and other people of just, if everything feels so overwhelming, the world feels like it's on fire.

And also my life is kind of a dumpster fire. So what do I do?  Number one.  I purge, declutter, let go of anything that is not necessary right now. And sometimes I do this. Out of desperation or preparation, when I'm feeling overwhelmed and I'm just like, oh my gosh. I just, I don't wanna do anything anymore.

I go on a really mad, purging. I throw things away and that's what I usually start with is the physical stuff. Usually I. Some of this overwhelm of these things that are out of our control.

When we can figure out something in our lives that we can control and take care of, that it helps those other things to feel less overwhelming. And so when I look at my office and all the paper everywhere, that might be somewhere that I start, is I'm just gonna start throwing things away that is no longer necessary.

Then sometimes I move into my to-dos. What do I not need to do anymore? Have I taken on too much stuff? Because that is what often happens is you end up being on autopilot  with taking on more things because you love to help , and you wanna create this change and 

have a positive impact on the world. So you take on all these things as this autopilot, but then you forget to let go of the things that are no longer serving you. So what I think about when I'm letting go of to-dos, because sometimes it's like I don't know what to let go of because everything is so important.

I ask myself this question, what's the worst that can happen?  And if I answer that question and , there's really actually nothing that bad that's gonna happen. Let's for example, say I send out an email every week. What if I decide to send out an email every other week instead of every week?

What's the worst that can happen?  Nothing really bad is gonna happen if I send out half of the emails that I'm sending out right now. Maybe it's something where  if I don't do this, then something bad is actually going to happen. That's something to keep. Then on your to-do list.  So that's number one.

Purge, declutter, let go. Number two,  take more breaks. And I know you're already saying, , that feels impossible right now. I have so many things on my list, I just can't even take a break.  Taking a break  may feel impossible, and it's also necessary.  And they don't have to be big, long breaks.  Taking a 30 minute break is great, but also a five minute break, a two minute break can be very, very beneficial.

 I just created that, my self-care cheat sheet. It's my top 25 minute self-care habits.   I created this because so many people say, I, I'm so overwhelmed I don't have time. There are so many little things you can do that add up over time, that when you're utilizing the compound effect  that compound interest of taking care of yourself makes a big difference.

So instead of trying to plan these 20, 30 minute time blocks. Start planning.  A five minute break every hour, and what can I do in that five minutes?  When you're doing that, it helps you to not only de-stress, but also refocus on what is important and what is necessary as opposed to continuing to do things that aren't necessary or getting down rabbit holes.

Like let's say you're in charge of doing something on social media. Isn't it so easy to post something and then get stuck in the scroll after? So if you have these intentional breaks set up,  it's that disruptor.  That then reminds you, oh yeah, stop doing these things that, that aren't actually helping me right now.

So that's number two. Take more breaks.  Number three. I do have a bonus tip at the end, so stick around for the bonus. Tip number three, reach out to my community. That is a big thing for me. I have certain friends that I can reach out to. I have colleagues that I can reach out to. And then the other one that is really beneficial for me is people in coaching programs that I'm a part of.

That's one of the reasons I love group coaching programs is you create this space where people. Are of like mind or they're working towards similar goals and that there's this community of people that you can reach out to  and oftentimes I do have some friends that I reach out to one-on-one, but a lot of times I'll reach out to a group because the beauty of that is when you're reaching out to a group, then it's not just on one person to.

Support you. It's not just on one person to listen,  you're allowing anyone who is able to, at that time, to be that listening ear, to help you to feel seen, to help you to feel less alone. And so when you can do that within a group, that can be really powerful. Those are the three ways that I overcome overwhelm when things are feeling chaotic.  If you are someone that feels like I need a community like Michelle is talking about, or  I really want that cheat sheet that you were talking about because I need more ideas of different things that I can do to take care of myself that don't take a lot of time, that help me to de-stress, then you can join the Love Your Life on Purpose community, not only will you have a community of people to reach out to, , but also to have a community of people that you can collaborate with and support as well. Then , as a bonus, I'll send you the self-care cheat sheet. So all you have to do is go to Love Your Life on purpose.com.

Fill out the questions and then we'll get you in the group and then send you that cheat sheet  let's get to that one last bonus tip to help you to feel less overwhelmed when things feel chaotic. That's going to sound obvious as soon as I say it, but most of you are probably not going to like it.

Especially as someone who is a proud giver and person of service or change maker,  that one thing is to ask for help.  It's so easy for us to get into our day to day and the daily grind of things that we forget that we have the ability to ask for help.  Some of you may not have the ability to ask for help, but what is something in your life that you can ask someone for help with, whether it's your personal life or your business life, or your work life, whatever that is, 

there's something that you can ask for help with, and it might be  can you do the dishes this week? Can you.  Send out this email for me. Asking someone, or , maybe it's a group to say, I need help with this. Asking for help is so powerful, especially when you go through and you do the purging and decluttering and the letting go, and there's the things that you can't let go of, and there's still a lot of things on your list.

Don't forget that it's okay for you to ask for help. I know that that can feel hard because you feel like, well, if. I don't wanna ask for help,  but it's okay for you to ask for help even if you are in a position where, let's say you're a leader in a nonprofit and you get paid and no one else does, or you get paid and only a couple other people do, and you're asking volunteers to help you.

So you feel guilty because you're like, well, I'm getting paid. I should do this.  Let go of that guilt. And that's easier said than done. And that sometimes takes more internal processing and, and more work to be done on your part.  But just remember that asking for help is okay and that it creates this reciprocity that also helps someone to feel like they're giving and they're doing their part by helping you as well.

So you're actually allowing someone else to fulfill something that feels good to them when you ask for help. So tell me in the comments, which one of these  three ways plus the bonus. Is something that you wanna try to help you overcome the overwhelm, or is there something that you do that really helps you to overcome overwhelm when things feel chaotic and out of control?

 Let me know in the comments or feel free to reach out to me. And remember that when you stop silencing yourself for the comfort of those around you, you are liberating yourself, which also helps liberate the collective,  and that's how you love your life on purpose.  Remember that you are worth it.