When Your Brain Turns One Small Problem Into a Mountain

Have you ever started with one tiny task...and somehow ended up mentally trying to solve your entire life?

Yep. Me too.

Recently, my mom moved in with us as she officially entered retirement (WOOHOO!), which meant combining two households into one. And while we're SO excited to have her here, the amount of stuff that came with combining two homes had both of us feeling completely overwhelmed.

I noticed something happening in my own brain: I'd look at one small thing that needed a home, and suddenly my brain was spiraling through everything else that needed to be done. One task became ten. Ten became fifty. And eventually, I found myself in freeze mode.

Sound familiar?

In this episode, we're talking about what happens when overwhelm turns one problem into an entire mountain, and how focusing on one small, solvable thing at a time can help you get out of the spiral and back into action.

We'll talk about stopping the mental train, leaning on trusted people when you need to vent, practicing patience when something doesn't have a quick fix, and remembering that you don't have to carry tomorrow's problems today.

Because sometimes the strongest thing you can do isn't solve everything.

It's simply asking:

"What's the next thing?"

I would love to hear how your inner mean girl is showing up and what tools are working for you!

Let's connect! you can find me on Instagram or Facebook

For more information on The Rewrite Collective membership click here

Love, Rach

Transcript

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Welcome to Rewrite Her Voice, the podcast that takes a bold and compassionate look at the inner critic living rent-free in your head. You know the one. She's judgmental, perfectionistic, and never misses a chance to tear you down. But here's the truth: that voice isn't truly you. Each week we dive into an honest conversation with powerful stories and practical tools to uncover where that inner mean girl came from, why she shows up, and how to rewrite her script. It's time to reclaim your inner voice, break the cycle of self-sabotage, and speak to yourself with the kindness and strength you deserve. If you're ready to stop letting your inner mean girl run the show and start showing up as your most authentic, empowered self, let's go. Oh hey. Welcome back. I'm super pumped you're here. I hope you're having a fantastic day so far. Okay, story time. So recently my mom moved in with us. And let me just say, woo freaking whoo. I am so pumped. I my mom is my person. I freaking love her. I adore her. She's the best. And she has officially entered into retirement. And we are all so excited to have her here. I can't even express it. Um my kids absolutely love having their grand here every single day, especially my son. There is something really, really special about having those multiple generations under one roof to me. And honestly, we're really just excited for this new season. But there is one tiny little detail that comes with combining two households into one. The stuff. Oh my gosh. The stuff. Okay, so first I had to declutter my house, and then my mom decluttered her house, and we're both thinking, like, okay, yeah, we're getting rid of a lot of stuff, right? Apparently, though, when you combine two houses, even after decluttering, you're not just combining two people and two sets of furniture, right? You're combining approximately 17,000 kitchen gadgets. We really like to play in the kitchen with new recipes, guys. And memories, all of the memories from all of the years, right? And each of those memories is attached to something, right? So you have the things that are attached to the memories, and then boxes. So many boxes. So many boxes going to donation, so many boxes being moved, so many boxes being stored, so many boxes having to find a new home for, so many boxes. And things you haven't seen in like 10 years, but suddenly you feel emotionally attached to because, well, maybe I'll need this someday. You know what I'm talking about? So my mom and I were both feeling pretty immensely overwhelmed by all of it, okay? There was just stuff everywhere. And we anticipated it, but being in it and anticipating it, very different. And not only was there stuff everywhere, but there was this constant mental checklist running in my head. This needs a home, that needs to be moved, we need to organize this, we need to get rid of that, this room needs to be cleaned. But before we can clean that room, we need to move this thing. And before I can move this thing, I need to figure out where that thing goes. And suddenly, I'm no longer thinking about the one thing that's sitting directly in front of me. I'm thinking about everything. And this is where my brain gets really interesting. I might look at one little thing that needs a home. One tiny thing. And instead of thinking, okay, where can I put this? My brain goes, Oh my gosh, we need to organize this entire room, and then we need to reorganize that closet, and then we need to go through the boxes, and we really should probably declutter the shed. And if we're going to do that, we need to and suddenly I'm six steps ahead and overwhelmed and frustrated, and then I freeze. Nothing happens. Because the task in front of me has somehow become this giant impossible problem. And I started thinking about this because I know I'm not the only person who does this. My mom said she does it too. And if we do it, somebody else out there does it too. Maybe you've experienced this. You have one email you need to respond to, but then you start thinking about all the other emails, and then the project that email is connected to, and then the other project that has been sitting on your list, and suddenly you don't answer the original email, you just stare at your inbox. Or maybe there's one thing you need to clean your house, but your brain immediately starts telling you that the entire house needs to be cleaned. And since you don't have three hours to clean the entire house, you do nothing. Or maybe there's something going on in a relationship. One conversation that needs to happen, one boundary that needs to be set, one thing you need to communicate, but your brain starts playing out every possible future conversation, every possible reaction, every possible consequence. And suddenly you're emotionally exhausted before you even had the first conversation. That is what Oberone can do. It takes one small problem and turns it into the entire mountain. And I realized I had to stop doing that. Not because the mountain wasn't real, the mountain was real. There was really a lot to do. There really were a lot of decisions to make. There really were a lot of things that needed homes. But I didn't have to solve all of it right now. And that became my little practice. I would look at what was directly in front of me and ask, what is one small problem I can solve right now? Not the whole room, not the whole house, not the whole move, not the entire future, just what is the next thing? And notice the word small. Small problem. What is the small next thing? Maybe it's this one drawer, maybe it's this one box, maybe it's finding a home for this one kitchen gadget. Maybe it's putting away the five things sitting on the counter. That's it. And when my brain started doing that thing where it wanted to jump ahead and solve everything else, I had to actively stop the train of thought. Almost like, nope, we're not going there right now. We are right here. This is what we're doing. This is enough. And sometimes I needed to talk about it. And by talk about it, I mean sometimes I needed to scream and yell about it to a trusted person. My poor mom and husband were definitely my listening ears, and I appreciate them more than I could ever express. Because let's be honest, sometimes you need someone to say, Oh man, I know, that's a lot. And you need to get it out of your head. Because sometimes when we're overwhelmed, we're carrying the entire thing internally. We're trying to process the logistics, the emotions, the decisions, the uncertainty, the expectations, the timeline, everything. And saying it out loud to someone safe can actually help you come back down to the thing that is actually happening. But there's another piece of this that I think is really important because sometimes there isn't a quick fix. Sometimes you actually do have to wait. Sometimes the house takes time to get organized. Sometimes the transition takes time. Sometimes a relationship takes time to work through. Sometimes the decision you're waiting on doesn't have an immediate answer. Sometimes your life is simply an in-between season. And this is where we have to practice something that no one really likes to practice. Patience. And I don't mean passive sit on the couch and do nothing patience. I mean the kind of patience that says, I'm gonna do what I can today and I'm going to allow the rest to unfold. That is a very different kind of strength. Because I think sometimes we believe strength means taking control of everything, fixing everything, figuring everything out, making the plan, and then executing the plan and getting ahead of the problem. But sometimes strength looks like saying, I can handle what is mine to handle today, and I don't need to carry tomorrow's problems today. That, ugh, that's a good one. Because think about what happens when we take the giant problem and break it into little bite-sized snacks. Suddenly it feels doable. You don't have to eat the whole meal, you just take one tiny little bite, and then another, and another, and eventually the thing that felt completely overwhelming starts to move. And here's the other thing I've noticed, okay? The smaller I make the problem in my mind, the more capable I feel. And the more capable I feel, the less I freeze. And the less I freeze, the more action I take. And the more action I take, the more the problem actually changes. Kind of like the whole if you give a mouse a cookie thing. Yeah, that. So if you're listening to this today and you're feeling overwhelmed by something, I want you to pause. Once you take a big breath. Okay? I want you to resist the urge to solve the entire thing. And right here, right now, I want you to ask, what is one problem I can solve right now? Just one. Just one small problem. Not ten, not the entire list, not the entire future. One. And then stay there. Stay with that one thing. And if your brain tries to pull you into everything else, notice it. Notice it and come back. We're doing this right now. Maybe you need to tell someone you trust how overwhelmed you are. Do that. Maybe you need to write the giant problem down and then circle the smallest piece of it. Do that. Maybe you need to accept that some of it simply isn't going to be resolved today. And that's okay too. Because you're allowed to be in a process. You're allowed to be in an unfinished season. You're allowed to have things that don't have a neat little bow on them yet. And you don't have to punish yourself for that. You don't have to turn an unfinished problem into evidence that you're failing. Sometimes it's just unfinished. It's it's just not done yet. That's it. So today I want you to think about what you've been making into a mountain and ask yourself, what if I only had to carry the next step? Not the whole staircase, okay? Not the whole staircase, just the next step. Because you don't have to solve the whole problem today, remember? You just have to take the next bite, and then the next one, and then the next one, and eventually you'll look around and realize, oh, we're actually getting somewhere. And maybe that's some reminder that we need sometimes. Small steps still count when the problem is big. You don't have to stop being overwhelmed before you can take the action. Sometimes taking one tiny action is what helps the overwhelm begin to loosen loosen its grip. So take the bite. Take the next small step. Remember, keep it snack sized. Stay here and let tomorrow's problem belong to tomorrow. Now, before I let you go, if this episode hit you in the oh maybe I do this place, I want you to invite you to stay connected. I want you to get on my email list because that's where I share more of these little reminders, conversations, and tools and honest moments that help you rewrite the way you talk to yourself and the way you move through your life. And if you want to go a little deeper with me, come join us inside the rewrite collective. The rewrite collective is where we take these conversations beyond the podcast. It's a space for women who are ready to stop getting stuck in the same patterns, to get curious about what's happening underneath the overwhelm and actually practice rewriting the thoughts, the beliefs, and the stories that keep them feeling stuck. Remember, you don't have to figure this out all by yourself, and you don't have to fix your whole life at once. You just need a place to take the next bite. So if you're ready for more support, more conversation, and more of this work, you'll find the links to join my email list and the rewrite collective in the show notes. Come hang out with me. I'd love to have you there. And until the next time, I want you to remember something. You don't have to solve the whole problem today. You just have to take the next step. Now remember, my sweet friend, you are enough. You are worthy, and you are immensely loved. Until the next time, love reach. Hey my sweet friend. Thank you so much for spending time with me today on Rewrite Her Voice. If you love today's episode, will you hit that subscribe button for me? And be sure to share it with a friend. If you're ready to quiet your inner mean girl and step into your own authentic voice, I would love for you to join me inside our cultivating membership. Until next time, remember, you are enough.