Overwhelm is on the rise and it’s happening more and more to us good folks.
It’s not just because we’re approaching the end of the year but emotions are high with more of us feeling increasingly stressed out for various reasons.
The months leading up to Christmas can be a very stressful time as you may know, with so many things put into high speed to finish off before we break for the holidays.
The feeling of overwhelm is so stressful that at times feels like your head is about to explode.
Overwhelm can come from many areas. It can come from how you’re feeling about your money, your relationships, your work environment and overall the expectations you put on yourself. Yes, it can come from a whole variety of areas.
A little while ago, I was feeling very overwhelmed and it came from a place of sheer exhaustion from work and what I had expected to happen. I had put myself under enormous pressure and because I hadn’t hit my goal of being at a certain place in my business I just broke down.
My husband David I don’t think has ever seen me like this. Normally I’m the one that keeps things ticking along, I’m also the upbeat, happy and positive person in our family, but this wasn’t the case that day.
I just broke down from tiredness, doing too many long hours and trying to figure out how I can get everything done before we break for the Christmas school holidays that was fast approaching.
Having a feeling of overwhelm can bring on anxiety or panic attacks and issues like anxiety can have a detrimental effect on our health.
It’s where everything just feels like it’s on top of you and there is no way out.
One of the ways to identify if you are feeling overwhelmed is to look at what you’ve got going on in your life.
You see we are often pulled in so many directions whether this is in our personal, family, work-life, or even with maintaining our friendships.
Let’s not forget about the pressure to fit in exercise and healthy eating choices so that our bodies are nourished and looked after to ensure we live a long and healthy life.
I know part of my overwhelm is the constant pressure I put on myself to eat healthily and fit in some form of exercise so I can feel better about myself.
One of the major areas for overwhelm is when it comes to our money and it tends to be the number one stress for a lot of people.
For some, it’s the feeling of overwhelm or helplessness on how to improve their financial position that gets extremely overwhelming.
Part of my overwhelm was not only putting myself under work pressure but feeling frustrated that I have pulled much out of our savings account to start a business and get it to the stage today where I am able to become self-sufficient from coaching gorgeous clients.
That for most business owners is a major stress – managing cash flow and ensuring their business is making a profit at the end of the day.
By not dealing or identifying when we are feeling overwhelmed – it can quickly escalate and take its toll on us not only emotionally but physically.
We may sometimes lack confidence in the ability to achieve what we’ve set out to do.
And we become very irritable and unhappy when this occurs.
Like I mentioned before there is the potential for our health to suffer in the process, whether stomach complaints or the onset of anxiety and depression.
The very first thing to do is understand why you’re feeling overwhelmed?
Are you trying to be everything to everyone?
Could you be trying to focus on too many things at once? or
Possibly you’re being too optimistic about how much time it will take to do a particular task.
Maybe you’re just not saying “NO” to people who may be taking up more time from you than you have to give at the moment.
For me, it is trying to do everything and be everything in my business.
So take a look at what’s causing you to feel overwhelmed and see where you can make life a little easier for you.
After you’re clearer what’s causing you to feel overwhelmed start with these 5 simple tips to get things back under control and in balance.
1 First and foremost take a deep breath.
2 write down every task, project or event whether for work or family and get it down on paper. Then look to see if you can delegate any of the areas that you feel you just can not handle anymore. If you’re a working parent or stay at home parent and just can’t seem to get on top of things around the house – maybe you could consider hiring a cleaner once a week or fortnight to help. This is one area that doesn’t cost a fortune and will take enormous pressure off with the many other tasks busy people & parents have on their plate.
3 Next focus on what’s important to you and what priorities you need to get done. Most importantly look to decide what your priorities are any learn to say NO without any guilt associated to any colleague, family or friend you feel maybe encroaching on the limited time you have to get your stuff done.
4 Ask for help when you feel those overwhelming feelings come up. Never be too proud to ask someone to help you when you start to feel overwhelmed. You will be surprised at how many people will offer to help out when you’re feeling under the pump.
AND then…
5 Be kind to yourself and remember you only one person and can only do so much.
To help when those feelings of overwhelm come up, I have a worksheet you can download that will get you thinking where your time is being spent and how certain areas within your life may be overloading your brain and the ability to achieve more in your life.
Loneliness is not just for the elderly either sitting at home or in nursing care waiting to die.
It’s a very real feeling for a lot of people today for all ages, with or without family.
In fact, a study done by an American health insurance provider Cigna showed that younger people Gen Z have the highest loneliness score, followed by millennials and then Gen X.
Today we are feeling more isolated and lonely than ever before and we are more disconnected in part because of technology.
While technology has helped many of us connect with loved ones and friends who we haven’t seen or kept in touch with for some time, we are more alone than ever before.
Studies have found that despite being more connected, more people feel more alone than ever.
So it seems that because technology makes it easier to stay in touch more and more people find themselves feeling distant and never having any human contact.
We human beings crave intimacy and human contact We crave that connectivity where we can talk face to face.
From my own experience, I’m busier than ever however, at times it feels that having loads to do doesn’t always fill up my happy cup.
I was thinking back to when we use to just go out with friends and have a good time without having to worry about posing for that perfect snap to share on social media and to tell the world yeah we’re having a good time!
What’s wrong with just enjoying the moment with the special people that we’re out with and keeping those snaps for our own memories or for sharing later after the event?
Loneliness might not seem like a medical problem but it can impact your overall health and wellbeing.
I remember watching a show where they brought kindergarten kids into a nursing care centre to help brighten up the residents day.
One older man remarked before the kids came in that he felt he was just waiting to die. He was so grateful for the kids who showed him some kindness, laughter and fun and it reminded him that there’s still more life in him yet.
This situation is not just limited to the elderly in nursing care.
Loneliness can come about when people have partners, whether married or not.
The study from Cigna asked about relationships and 43% of respondents said that they sometimes or always feel that their relationships are not “meaningful.”
The same percentage of participants said they sometimes or always felt isolated from others, even those closest to them.
How many times have we seen people on their phones out for dinner and are not communicating but looking at their device instead.
Couples are not talking as much as they use to and I often laugh when I see couples talking to each via their social media posts.
I’ve heard from friends and seen it for myself that while hanging out to engage and talk with our partners – the other is on their phone appearing to be more interested in other people’s lives than their own.
Maybe that’s why there are more relationship breakdowns?
I use to think a lot had to do with money but I’m wondering whether it’s a 50/50 between no communication and no money?
So it seems that because technology makes it easier to stay in touch, more and more people find themselves feeling distant and never having that true connection. Or at least not enough to avoid the feelings of being alone.
Loneliness can be overcome, but it does require a conscious effort on your part to make a change. Making a change, in the long run, can make you happier, healthier, and enable you to impact others around you in a positive way.
Here are ways to prevent and overcome loneliness:
1.Identify that when those feelings of loneliness and unhappiness come about to look at ways you can change by doing something, whether it be volunteering, going for a walk, meeting a friend, finding groups in your community that offer activities that you’re interested in and go do them.
2. Talk to your partner or friends and suggest some real conversation by putting down the devices.
3. Understand the effects that loneliness has on your life, both physically and mentally.
4. Look at ways to cultivate new friendships by joining a club or join a “meetup group” that offers something you’re interested in and gets you meeting new people.
5. Focus on developing quality relationships with people who share similar attitudes, interests, and values with you.
6. Lonely people often expect rejection, so instead focus on positive thoughts and attitudes in your social relationships.
Loneliness can have an overall effect on your health, so be sure to look at including some of the suggestions I’ve shared above, so it doesn’t affect your health and wellbeing.
If you’re looking for more financial or emotional support then join either my FB Group or Monthly Coachingto get inspire and live a happier, healthier life.
Until next time, here’s to your health, wealth and happiness.
You may have noticed or “may not” that I’ve been off the air and haven’t posted or shared anything for a while.
There’s a couple of reasons for that and I’ll share with you ONE now and the other I’ll save for another time in a more intimate group via a live training call on how to move forward when you’re feeling emotionally, mentally and financially stuck.. soon.
So make sure you keep an eye out and join me for this special live training.
So one of the reasons I’ve been a little quiet is because I’ve felt there’s been so much noise on social media loads of talk, new stuff coming on our feed – some good and some I feel not so good.
So I decided to stop and just think about what are people looking for?
What am I looking for?
The answers were obvious.
Firstly. we all want the same things in life to live free from stress and worry, whether it be about money, relationships, work or other stuff.
A life that when we come to the end of our days we can say YES we had a good time and we lived the best possible life for us, one with loads of fun and a life with meaning.
And secondly, what I discovered was that 80% of life is about the stuff that’s going on between our ears the constant conversation we’re having in our head, where the 20% is about the doing – the know-how.
You see I use to think it was the other way round.
80% – knowledge, know-how and just doing it, while the
20% – is about mindset and getting that right.
I realised that in order for my clients to be truly successful in all areas of life I have to help them unravel what’s going on upstairs. What thoughts, beliefs and misconceptions they were constantly thinking about themselves and their life.
You see most of my clients were sabotaging their long term happiness because of the beliefs they were carrying around about themselves – self-sabotaging thoughts.
As I started to work more closely with them I discovered their limiting beliefs were holding them back from living the life they truly desired.
So I had to change things up and flip things on their head “so to speak” by focussing on breaking down these limiting beliefs and re-building new thoughts about themselves to create a realistic transformation.
Because what I discovered was that it wasn’t as easy as I thought to just to get their money in order, I had to get their mind thinking different thoughts, because most didn’t feel good about themselves or even like who they are.
So I’ve decided to change things up a bit and spend time equally talking about mindset and financial, with more emphasis on looking to improve some of the crappy beliefs we carry around about ourselves.
For example; when you truly love yourself and are at peace with who you are and how your life is you find that you don’t talk about people, bitch about them or compare yourself to them.
You also find you have less interest in gossiping and spend more on what makes you happy.
If you don’t believe me then I challenge you to stop and listen to the thoughts you have in your head and hear the words you’re speaking.
Are you talking about someone all the time, sticking your nose in where it’s not wanted or are you an active listener and participating in conversations without judgement and criticism?
When we take our focus off others and focus on our own life – we’re able to help not only ourself live a better life but others around us, because we’re not getting involved in their dramas.
What we’re doing is freeing the often negative, exhaustive thoughts that are constantly swirling around in our head when we’re not involved in gossip, criticism or judgement.
So it’s all about the 80/20.
80% – Mindset, thoughts, beliefs & how we feel.
20% – Know-how, knowledge & education.
In order to build both financial and emotional muscle, learn to let go and focus on yourself and your happiness first.
For more support and help to do this join my monthly coaching or access, any of my ONLINE PROGRAMS to live the life you’ve always dreamed.
Until next time…….here’s to your financial health, wealth & happiness.
The words wealthy and rich are words that tend to make some of us cringe and bring up feelings that all wealthy people are “up” themselves and rotten sods, which is not always the case.
When people think about wealth it often triggers poverty thinking and brings up fears, conditioning and unhealthy thoughts.
It makes people so uncomfortable that what happens is their behaviour makes them look for ways to make themselves feel better, about being poor.
Here in Australia, we love pulling those down that do better than us. We get jealous and our personalities turn very quickly when we’re in the company of wealthy people.
The tall poppy syndrome sadly is still strong in Australia. For those that don’t know what the tall poppy syndrome is? Well, it describes aspects of a culture where people of “perceived” high status are resented, attacked, cut down or criticised because they have been classified as superior to their peers.
New research has found its keeping many Australians – especially women – from pursuing their dreams and holding people back from reaching their true potential.
Dr Fiona Wood AM asked kids (when visiting schools after she won Australian of the Year in 2004)….
“How often have you done less than your best so that others around you didn’t feel uncomfortable?”
She cringed and felt upset to hear that they all gave an example of this and some felt proud of it.
She went onto to say in an interview, that there’s absolutely no mileage in the world to be AVERAGE...no matter what job you do.
You’ve got to understand yourself, so you can match your work ethic with your full potential.
You need to make your own decisions, stand up and be proud of what you’re doing.
Negative energy is a black hole and if you want to go wasting your precious time here on earth being part of it – then go ahead and jump in the black hole.
The opinion from others of you is theirs – you don’t have to own it.
The key is to keep learning, refining and up-skilling so that each day whatever you want gets easier to achieve.
One day at a time and one foot in front of the other is all you can do somedays.
Working hard and keeping your eye on the prize or the goal and never giving up, is the way to winning and living your life full, happy and with loads of wealthy potential.
People who don’t make decisions are wasting their human potential to do, be and create something great in their life.
I believe we all have that something special in us and it’s time to knock the tall poppy syndrome on its feet, ignore it and don’t let this stop you.
We live in a world where anything we dream is possible.
Prove naysayers wrong and don’t engage in pointless negativity & criticism.
We have to start somewhere when it comes to managing our money better and that starts with building financial muscle. Once you have the foundations in place, it’s a lot easier and faster to build on your wealth.
My course “How To Keto Your Money” is the building block for building on your financial foundations. Once you’ve got the foundations set up, I will then show you how to start automatically building on your wealth, so you can retire wealthy and live a life with more freedom.
Find out more by clicking here…How To Keto Your Money and I’ll look forward to helping you achieve your full financial potential.
Changing a money habit is NOT merely a matter of saying… yep, I’m not going to spend everything I earn this payday or I’m not going to overspend on my credit card this month from impulse buying.
Poor money habits I believe come from a deeper concern than just spending on meaningless stuff. Stuff that half of the time we don’t need or even use.
So where do these money habits come from?
Well before I answer this. I want to remind you what an actual habit is.
A habit is a behaviour that is learned when we regularly keep doing the same thing over and over again without even thinking.
Money habits are no different than the habit of brushing your teeth when you first get up in the morning or after breakfast. It’s a behaviour that becomes ingrained in how we treat and respect our money. One that we are fully aware of the consequences that follow if our habits are from poor money decisions.
Is there a cure for our poor money habits?
Yes, I believe there is. However, it takes time, discipline, awareness and mental strength in order for anyone to break this habit.
How long can it take to change a habit?
According to psychologists, while it may take approximately 21 days of conscious and consistent effort to create a new habit, it takes far longer to break an existing habit.
From personal experience in working with clients who want to change their poor money habits – it takes a lot longer.
You see there are deeper issues at play why some of us have poor money habits that can at times border on addiction. Just like any addiction, it’s more often than not about something that’s happened in the past.
A habit is not necessarily an addiction, though the two are strongly linked. A habit is any conscious behaviour you do on a routine basis.
Addiction is more about the behaviour to an excessive degree whereby someone feels unable to stop or control it.
Our self worth is often tied to our poor money habits. Our poor money habits can come from the messages we heard growing up and from the examples, we saw when we were younger.
Some of us spend when we feel low or unhappy to give us the kick “or high” we hope to make us feel good about ourselves. The hope that is supposed to fill the void we’re so looking to fill.
When in fact it’s much like the high you get from either an alcohol or drug addiction. Feels good at the time but hell when coming down from the high.
What’s the price of not changing our money habits?
There’s a high price to pay and that comes in the form of massive debt, poverty, unhappiness, envy & jealousy and often health issues.
So how do you move from poor money habits?
What are some of the ways to transform a poor money situation?
3 ways you can change a money habit is to:
1. First, acknowledge that you have a problem. A problem that you’re spending more than you earn, A problem that sees you with credit card debt, personal debt and other debt that you have no hope in paying off anytime soon. Being aware that you’re deep up to your elbows in debt and it’s time to get out, this is the first step.
2. Get help. Get the support you need to help you move forward. Having someone who understands and willing to help you means you’re not alone. It also gives you someone you can be accountable to. Someone who has a vested interest in seeing you succeed and live a better life without financial worry or stress.
3. And lastly, find your purpose – YOUR why. The reason you want a better life and one that doesn’t include massive debt or poor money habits. Set some goals. Write down how you want your life to be. What you want for your life and keep this at the forefront of your mind.
Writing down your dreams, goals and desires keeps you focussed and helps you work towards the bigger picture and what you want in life.
Breaking a habit takes a lot of willpower and motivation.
Ending the cycle of poor money habits is generally easier when it’s something you want to do rather than something others say you should do.
For anyone looking for coaching, support, education and help in moving towards their goals, then check out my “no lock-in contract” monthly coaching program.
The MONTHLY COACHING PROGRAM provides you with the support you require throughout your financial journey for a fraction of the price for $37 per month.
I’ve just opened up this program, as I’m getting a lot of questions asking if I have a monthly coaching program for a small cost.
We took this at 1am after cleaning up from his party ? on Saturday night remembering we didn’t get one photo of the 3 of us. Too late for our daughter to get into the photo as she was fast asleep ? by then.
Reaching 50 or any milestone in your life is worth celebrating ?.
It’s important to celebrate the milestones along the way whether it be birthdays, paying off debt, work achievements or whatever joy and happiness has come in at that time.
When we celebrate the special milestones in our life it triggers a change in habit to our brain ? and this enables more of the good stuff to come in.
Celebrating even the fact you’re still here is a major milestone today as I’m sure we’ve all had special people in our life that are not here and had their time cut short.
Gratitude and appreciating all that you have in life – whether you don’t feel like being grateful because of certain circumstances that have occurred in your life – is the key to receiving more.
Now I’m not going to bang on here about gratitude and appreciation, as I feel there is plenty of that out there for you to tap into in other’s messages.
What I do want to share and highlight is to truly appreciate all what you have today whether it be a little or a lot and be thankful that you’re here.
So enjoy every milestone and moment in your life and live with love and gratitude ❤️
p.s. check out that rogue strand of hair sticking out lol – I was too tired to take another photo but love that we finally got one of the two of us before the night was out. Important to document special occasions even with unruly hair 🙂
