Balancing Life: Organizing Your Thoughts to Manage Overwhelm

Ever found yourself spilling pancake mix because your mind was racing with too many thoughts? On this episode of Get Real with the English Sisters, we promise to guide you through the art of organizing your thoughts and managing overwhelm. We'll share candid stories about how an overactive mind can wreak havoc on daily life, and offer practical tips to help you balance tasks and handle invasive worries like an upcoming surgery. Learn how to stay grounded in the present, compartmentalize your concerns, and take things step by step to maintain mental clarity and reduce stress.

Life's challenges don't have to overshadow its joys. We'll discuss how to find balance amidst stressful events by compartmentalizing concerns and indulging in activities that bring you happiness—be it fishing, binge-watching your favorite TV shows, or sharing a laugh with friends. Discover the importance of keeping worry-sharing sessions with loved ones brief to make room for more uplifting conversations. Plus, we offer guidance on managing chronic illness day by day and finding joy in small moments. Tune in for heartfelt advice, practical tips, and a sprinkle of positivity from The English Sisters.

Hypnotherapy coaching sessions can help if you are struggling with anxiety.  Please email us at englishsisters@gmail.com if you would like help with an issue, mentioning this episode of our podcast for a special discounted rate. We work with clients worldwide over Zoom or Skype. Buy our Book Stress Free in Three Minutes available on Amazon and Kindle, to help support our work. Thank you!

Love and smiles from The English Sisters.

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Chapters

• 0:00 Organizing Thoughts and Managing Overwhelm
• 5:10 Finding Balance and Enjoying Life
• 12:10 Managing Chronic Illness Day by Day"

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

How to organise your thoughts, yeah, without becoming completely overwhelmed by them. Exactly how easy it is to kind of get into a mess with your mind and your thoughts and really not know what's going on in your brain. Yeah, that's what we're going to be talking about in today's episode of Get Real with the English Sisters Viol violetta and yordka zugo. Okay, yeah, I mean, I was finding it difficult the other day because I had so much to do and I was like my my mind was skipping from one thought to the next and I didn't really know how to that can happen. I was finding that I was like dropping things. I was making some pancakes and oh, really, I know that feeling and all the mixture fell over, and it fell all over the floor, right, and it's because I was thinking about so many things and I was also anxious about one or two of them. So, yeah, yeah, that can happen. You know, you just you get into a bit of a tizz, don't you like a little whirlwind, oh, and there's so much to do, and, and the same, the same can happen when you have not enough to do as well. So you know, watch out for this, because if you're bored and you actually have not enough to do. Your mind can also become over anxious about you know that one thing that you may have to do yes, so it can be. It can work both ways. You know, it can become like over, you can overthink it. I think it's like a bit of a balancing act. Yes, as it has with everything, it's always a a balance, isn't it? It's always balance Because you can have, you can have like organise your thoughts, but you can have one thought that kind of overrides all other thoughts and it doesn't let your other thoughts have any room. Yeah, an anxiety, a concern, like you may have to go in for surgery, or one of your loved ones may have to go in for surgery and you're really concerned about that. So obviously that thought can be like become an invasive thought and it's not going to be helpful to you in the present moment for you to constantly think about that. It's only going to cause more anxiety.

Speaker 1: 2:25

So what do you do? You know you could say it's easier said than done, especially if you're really worried about somebody and well, yeah, I think you have to take a deep breath and then you have to say okay, one step at a time, absolutely. So what, uh, what do I have to do today? What's on my to-do list today? And then you'll find that the more you get done on in that day, the happier you'll be, and and the less you'll be worrying about that recurring thought. Yeah, and I think, don't also, don't let your you know your mind race ahead. So say, if it is a surgery you're going for, don't allow yourself to start thinking, yeah, but what if it doesn't go well? Or what if the outcome? Then there's another thing I have to do after that. No, just get that one thing done, done and dusted, exactly, yeah, do one thing, one step at a time.

Speaker 1: 3:16

So just think about what is it today that you have to do? I suppose it goes back to being mindful, doesn't it always being in the present moment, in the present moment? In the present, how am I actually feeling today without any of these concerns? Yeah, but how do you compartmentalise, as they say? You know how do you put them into, like these thoughts, because I always imagine it a bit like a room in my mind and I always think, okay, this is like in the front of my mind is all the most important stuff that I've got to get done today. And then somehow, if there is a concern like my son actually does have to have a surgery and I am very, very worried about it you know I'm concerned but I can't do anything about it today. No, because it's occurring next week. So what I have to do is, today put that thought like in the back room of my mind, you know in a room, and I can actually close the door on that thought for today. And and then, you know, try not to peek inside that room too much because otherwise what will happen is throughout the day, like what happened to me yesterday and I'm a therapist is that I kept on like peeking back into that room and looking and seeing and no, no, no, no, no. It wasn't helpful to me, so I say that's not helpful. It's best to keep the door shut, if you can just keep the door shut, if you can just keep the door shut. Otherwise, if you do have a peak oh my gosh, you're human, you know it's normal just for a few minutes, exactly. Limit it, limit it, that's right. It's not about dwelling, it's not about keeping your full day concerned with that, because then it's consuming literally, mentally, physically, and and and it's going to use up all your energy, isn't it? And it's stealing time from you, precious time, exactly.

Speaker 1: 5:10

Thinking about more pleasurable things and doing more pleasure, and having pleasure and having like family time, enjoying life as it is today, exactly. I mean, like even son, who is going to have his operation next week, on a Monday he said, ok, on a Saturday I'm going fishing because I want to enjoy it. But he's known of you, hasn't he? He has, but I was so proud of him I thought, yes, get the most of your lovely, have a lovely fishing day. And then, you know, don't? At first I freaked out. I thought, oh, gosh, you're not going fishing. Gosh, you've got to have some. No, but when you told me that, I thought great for him, yeah, yeah, good for him, exactly. So I thought I thought he's learned well. He's learned well Because we learned that lesson when mum and dad were so ill.

Speaker 1: 5:51

Yes, we couldn't just have our whole lives consumed by that one thought of will they die? You can, they're gonna suffer. We just had to enjoy the moment and try and be, you know, loving and kind and be with them, exactly. Yes, yes, so that's a good and also, I think, like a lot of the fears that we have, we all have. They never actually realize or they don't know they don't manifest themselves in the same way as as terribly as we predict. Absolutely right. So in the end it's usually all okay and if it's not, hey, I mean, you'll deal with it when the time comes. Yeah, yeah, but we don't have to be dealing with things for years and years and years, or before, weeks and weeks, because it just, it's just. You know, it's not a good way to organize your thoughts. No, it's not so.

Speaker 1: 6:41

Definitely, if you can imagine, you know this back room, I would say open the door. Yeah, you can put them in there. You know, wherever you want in the room, there could be a trunk or something you know you can visualize whatever suits you best a cupboard or just a room and you can just put them in there and place them in there, knowing that they're you know they're safe. Yeah, it's not like you're ignoring them. When the time comes, you'll, you'll think about that, but not right now, in this moment, you don't have to think about that. Yeah, the same way. When the time comes, yes, when the time, one step at a time.

Speaker 1: 7:16

Yes, when the time comes, you open the room and you say, okay, let me get organized for today. What do I have to do to get ready, to get ready to prep for this, whatever? Whatever it is job interview I mean we're saying surgery, because I was thinking personally about my surgery, I mean my son's surgery, yeah, but it could be a job interview or or anything. A date. That's getting you really nervous. Any. Anything that you find is like overtaking your thoughts and you keep sneakily going back just say, hey, okay, this thought I'm going to put you in the back room for now, exactly, shut the door and I'm going to think about other things and enjoy life and do yeah things.

Speaker 1: 7:56

Yeah, if it helps, you can write things down, like write it down what you were supposed to be doing today, what you want to do today, who you want to spend time with. You know, you prioritize that way, don't you? Yeah, and I think, always put something nice in your day as well. So, whether it's watching your favorite tv series or going out with a friend, or having a nice chat with someone, always, you know, schedule something really lovely in your day as well, yes, or even if it's just having a coffee somewhere, I know, or a drink that you like, and also, when you do go and meet that friend or that family member, try and keep.

Speaker 1: 8:32

You can express your concerns, obviously, because you're supposed to share. You know they do say that a worry shared is a worry halved. Is that it something like that? Something shared is a problem halved. That's it, yeah, so, um, so, yeah, but you can also like keep it in with. Keep it short, yes, keep it short and sweet, because otherwise it'll end up just your whole conversation will just be around that and it won't actually make you feel any better. No, it won't. That's the thing is a person can offer you comfort and empathy, but if you just speak about that for the entire meeting or three hours or whatever time you've got, you won't allow time for other fun things to enter the conversation, thoughts that you might have that might make you feel a lot better. Yeah, so allow for that time for the hug or whatever, but you know your friends, your family to support you and to help you.

Speaker 1: 9:25

But then also allow for other things to enter, because they're healing for you as well at this particular time. They are healing because our, because our lives are so complex and there's so many parts to us that we can really, even if we are going through something, we can still enjoy something else at the same time. Not, it doesn't mean that it's just one or the other. They, they, they can be two together. Yes, yes, you can enjoy. That is so true, there are two together. There's always like the yin and the yang. Yes, it's always something else you could balance. Yeah, you could be doing something yucky that you really hate doing, but then I mean, like for me, going for a lovely cappuccino and oh, that definitely puts you know, ah, that's, I want to enjoy one after this. Yeah, it balances things out for me, yeah, you know, and for you, whatever balances it out for you, definitely, and sometimes even a little. Taking a little walk, if you find that you can't, um, like you can't put it in the back door, just take a little walk and that's a really. Maybe you can put it in your favorite tree or something. A little walk, and that's a really. Maybe you can put it in your favorite tree or something on that walk and then bring it back when you need to. Yes, you can.

Speaker 1: 10:37

You know, a change of your environment can be very helpful. Yeah, change of scenery, absolutely yeah, that's why they often say you know another saying. You know, go for a walk, think it out. Change is as good as a rest. Yes, yes, yes, yes, we're coming up with all the old sayings today, but, yes, absolutely, that's a very good idea. You know, remember that you can also just change your space, even just changing room, like in your home, in your office space, walking out, going down the corridor, going outside a minute yeah, I was, was also thinking. Now, you know when is it? Like it's autumn is for is back to school, yeah, but all the mums that are worried about sending their kids back as well. You know, yeah, there's change, isn't? There's a lot of change going on, but it's also a time of great creativity and new, new things happening. So just take a moment to just enjoy these, these special moments.

Speaker 1: 11:31

And everything does have like a silver lining. I think I always look at life like that, that there's, if there's a silver lining to everything. Well, there's something to be learned. There's something to be learned from every experience that we live. So there is valuable feedback in everything we live through. It makes us wiser, doesn't it? Ultimately, it? It shapes you as a person and if you learn from it, you can. You can keep that as a beautiful, valuable experience for you to learn how to cope with similar things that may happen in your life in the future.

Speaker 1: 12:10

And, um, you know, everything else. Same with chronic illness. If you are suffering from any chronic illness, you'll know that you can only take it, you know, literally a few days at a time, because if you overthink it it can become completely overwhelming. Yeah, it can get you down. So just think of it as one day at a time and always look forward to something good smiles in that day, to something nice, yes, pleasant, you know. Maybe listening to your favorite podcast, yeah, just any, any little thing that you find time alone? Yeah, whatever it is. So let us know what you think. If you find it difficult to organise your thoughts, we can also help you with that with our hypnotherapy sessions and coaching sessions. So do come and say hi. You can also comment on Spotify, apple Podcasts, leave us a review, which is very much appreciated, and come and see the video too, because there's a video of this on youtube as well, on our youtube channel, the english sisters. So lots of love and smiles from the english sisters. Bye.