A Woman's Power "Unfiltered" With Victoria E Strange

Small Actions, Big Relief: Navigating Life When Overwhelm Takes Over

• Victoria E Strange • Season 1 • Episode 13

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Overwhelm crashes into our lives without warning, making itself known in our heads, homes, and bodies, but we can develop effective strategies to move through it when it appears.

• Recognising the signs of overwhelm - forgetting things, inability to focus, physical symptoms, emotional reactions
• Understanding triggers - too many tasks, lack of order, external demands, messy environments
• Acknowledging that overwhelm is not a weakness but a signal that you're taking on too much
• Avoiding unhelpful responses like pretending you're fine, taking on more, or comparing yourself to others
• Starting small with one manageable task to build momentum
• Writing everything down to clear mental noise and create order
• Choosing one priority rather than treating everything as urgent
• Practising saying no to reduce demands
• Clearing your physical space for mental relief
• Setting timers to make overwhelming tasks more manageable
• Beginning at the start rather than the middle or end of processes
• Finding clarity even in chaos through simple, consistent steps

My DMs are always open if you're struggling with overwhelm or have topics you'd like me to cover in future episodes. Subscribe to get notifications for next Monday's episode and share this with any woman who might be drowning in overwhelm.


Speaker 1:

Hello everyone. It's Victoria here and welcome back to another episode of A Woman's Power Unfiltered. So let's dive into today's ep, where we are talking about when overwhelm takes over. Overwhelm doesn't whisper, does it. It crashes in your head, in your home, in your body, and makes itself known. And the thing is, overwhelm really is just too much on your plate, too many voices and too much mess. Today, we are stripping it back. This isn't about fixing everything. You are not going to listen to this podcast and at the end of it go oh, that's it. I'm never going to have overwhelm again. That is not going to happen. But what I am going to talk to you about is how you can deal with it and the steps that I took that worked for me.

Speaker 1:

So it's about finding your way through everything when you feel that you're completely buried underneath and you know that's tough, isn't it so? Forgetting things, not being able to focus, tight chest, heavy legs, drained before you even start, snappy, tired, tearful at the small things. But it's actually not the small things, it's just an accumulation of everything that makes the small things look big. Overwhelm makes small things feel impossible. This is what it feels like, isn't it? It's horrible If you think about it, it really is not nice. So why does overwhelm hit? And I think that's the first thing that we've got to understand why? Why has it burst into our lives and made us feel a bit crap? Too much on the list, no order. It's so important to have order. Other people's demands family, friends, work expectations could be anything. It could be that you're trying to get fit and you're just feeling a little bit overwhelmed by it. It could be that people are just putting too much on you.

Speaker 1:

Messy environment reflecting a messy head. You know, I'll tell you a little story about myself. When I go out of the house in the morning, if I leave my house spick and span, all done, everything's in its place, maybe a wash on dishwashers, on, everything's tidy I feel great, I feel like I can conquer the world. Now, if it's reversed and I am leaving the house in the morning to go to the office and everything is a shit show, my goodness, I feel terrible. I can't focus, can't focus at all. I don't even eat great when I get home because I know that I'm coming in to a messy environment. Who wants to cook in that? I have a fabulous kitchen, but I don't want to cook in it, when it just looks like a bomb's you know come crashing into it. So that is what it feels like and that is what can happen when it hits stress, grief, they all pile on.

Speaker 1:

Overwhelm isn't a weakness, though, and I think this is this is something that we we do tend to think. Oh, my God, why am I suffering Overwhelm? Why am I feeling overwhelmed? This is my fault, but it's not. It's actually just a signal, like a traffic light just saying hello, hello. No, you need to stop because you're taking on too much. It's giving you a signal.

Speaker 1:

Now, what doesn't work when you're trying to deal with overwhelm, pretending you're fine, we've all done it, are you okay? Oh yeah, yeah, I'm absolutely fine. Oh yeah, brilliant, I'm fine. When you're actually not, and in your head you're thinking, no, I'm really not fine, saying yes to more. Oh yeah, I'll do that. Yeah, just pile that on the pile that.

Speaker 1:

I'm literally drowning underneath, comparing yourself to other ladies who look like they've got it together. Look, I'm going to be honest, they might have it together. The day that you are comparing them yourself to them, they might actually have it together. They might. You are comparing them yourself to them. They might actually have it together. They might be having a great day, great week, great month. Do they have a perfect day every day? No, their idea of perfect will differ to yours and vice versa. So stop comparing yourself.

Speaker 1:

Overwhelm doesn't clear itself. You have to move through it. Ok, step by step. It doesn't just disappear. But how do you move through it? It's all well and good me saying that, isn't it, but how do you do it? Now, I can't promise you that this is going to work for you, but what I can tell you is it worked for me and it does work for me. Now, what I can also tell you is if you are suffering overwhelm today and you go through the steps and you conquer it and you're like okay, I don't feel overwhelmed anymore, does it mean it's not going to come back? Absolutely not. It will come back, probably, probably will come back. But the difference is you have the strategy and you have the steps to deal with it. That's the difference. So you start small. Now it could be anything. It could be one drawer that you've got to sort out at home, one list, one walk Maybe you're trying to get fit. Start with one exercise class. One walk, one something. But start small, write it down. Brain dump Clears your head and clears the the noise.

Speaker 1:

I'm what you call a list person. I write everything in lists. I either use uh, I mean I do use a piece of paper, not so much now because I lose it, but, um, I put it on my, my phone notes, um, the note thing on your phone, I do tend to put it in excel and I write lists for everything. I have a cleaner. I know it's a luxury, um, I have her for a few hours every week. So obviously all the other hours I have to do the cleaning myself, like most people. And what I do when I'm doing the housework, I write it in a list. I am one of those people who will, even if I have done the job, I will stick it on the list just to tick it off for the satisfaction. Yes, I am one of those people.

Speaker 1:

So choose one priority. You know, not everything is urgent, but when you're suffering from overwhelm it will feel like everything's urgent. Everything's got to be done at once, but it hasn't, and it's been possible anyway. You can't do it all at once. So you choose one priority, say no. So this week, just say no once. Even cut one demand this week, it will make you feel better, clear your space.

Speaker 1:

Even 10 minutes of tidying gives you relief. This is a little bit about getting organised in the home, isn't it? But I do believe you know, tidy head, tidy mind. The other night I really couldn't be bothered to do the. I had to tidy up the kitchen and clean the kitchen and I just couldn't be bothered. And I sat in the lounge thinking, yeah, I'll get up in a minute. But I just really couldn't be bothered. So sat in the lounge thinking, yeah, I'll get up in a minute, but I just really couldn't be bothered. So what I did? I got up, put the Alexa on for 15 minutes. Oh my goodness, I got so much done. I couldn't believe it. I was so impressed at myself. That works. Set a timer and then what you do, what you land up doing, is you try to beat the timer so effectively. You try to get as much done before that timer goes off. It works.

Speaker 1:

It's a bit of a game changer. Actually start at the beginning, not the middle and not the end. You just start at the beginning, okay, best, best place to start. And what happens? What's the shift? Shift, because you kind of want an end game with this.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, small actions create momentum. The head starts to clear, the body just feels a little light and you might even start to cry a little bit, because it's you know. You might stop crying, or you might start to cry due to the fact that it's like oh, it's the release, isn't it? It's the relief of everything. You prove to yourself you are not stuck and, believe me, you're not. You're not stuck. It's just that overwhelms oh, it's a real. It's not very nice. Clarity is power and you can create it even in the chaos. When you start at the beginning and you start small, regardless to whatever it is, you can get clarity and you're probably thinking yeah, but I don't know if I can, you can, you really really can.

Speaker 1:

So let's recap what we've spoken about Overwhelm. It can feel crushing. It's a signal. Clear it step by step, simple as that. And it is simple. You don't have to carry it all. Drop one thing Start at the beginning. That's how power comes back. That's how you regain your power. Okay, I hope you have loved today's episode. I've loved recording it as normal. Share this, if you can share it with anyone, share it with one woman who may be drowning in overwhelm and subscribe to the next episode, because then you get your notifications. As always, my dms are always always open. We had an influx of new listeners a lot of you last week so welcome, and I hope you enjoyed today's episode. My dms, as I say, are always open and contact details are on the show notes. If there's anything that you want me to cover, you you want me to talk about, let me know, because I love to hear your feedback. Have a fantastic, fantastic day, everyone, and I will be back next Monday.