Today's episode is dedicated to getting out of your own way and taking action to address the stress and anxiety that keeps you stuck. Many times we disregard the power of intentional self-care and self-awareness as tangible tools to reclaim your calm.
Instead of staying stuck in the common traps of doom scrolling and netflix binging I'll share my insights on cultivating a proactive stance toward understanding stress, embracing flexibility in our self-care routines, and nurturing a compassionate inner dialogue.
Your path to managing life's pressures with grace and personal agency begins here, without succumbing to self-criticism or shame-based tactics.
Get in there and give it a listen!
Resources:
Manage Your Stress Mentorship
Discovery call
You can find more about Brain-Body Resilience and JPB:
On the BBR Website
On Instagram
On Facebook
Sign up for the BBR newsletter
Today's episode is dedicated to getting out of your own way and taking action to address the stress and anxiety that keeps you stuck. Many times we disregard the power of intentional self-care and self-awareness as tangible tools to reclaim your calm.
Instead of staying stuck in the common traps of doom scrolling and netflix binging I'll share my insights on cultivating a proactive stance toward understanding stress, embracing flexibility in our self-care routines, and nurturing a compassionate inner dialogue.
Your path to managing life's pressures with grace and personal agency begins here, without succumbing to self-criticism or shame-based tactics.
Get in there and give it a listen!
Resources:
Manage Your Stress Mentorship
Discovery call
You can find more about Brain-Body Resilience and JPB:
On the BBR Website
On Instagram
On Facebook
Sign up for the BBR newsletter
Hello and welcome back to the Brain Body Resilience Podcast. I am your host, jpb, and this is episode 164. Welcome to the new year. We are finishing up the first week of January as I record this and I have still got my Christmas tree and all the decorations for Christmas up, partly because my tree is beautiful and it brings me joy and in another part because I have not had the time to take that shit down and put it all away. Also, we went to Lowe's today and saw a storage shelf, so we are going to install that and organize the storage closet before we put the Christmas things back in there. Not my favorite idea because it's wet and cold, but it seems like a logistically appropriate time and I am very excited about the organization. So cross your fingers for some dry weather in the next couple of weeks. For that, and before we get started today, I want to remind you that last week's episode was actually posted on YouTube and was an incredible conversation with my friend and registered dietitian, katie Spada.
Speaker 1:It is that time of year where lots of folks have New Year's resolutions or goals or renewed intentions to eat better and exercise and focus on health things, and there is a lot of really shitty information out there in the diet and fitness space, around challenges and all of that this time of year. So if you haven't already, go check that one out. I really want to post that on here, have it up on the streaming, the audio streaming platforms whatever those are called Spotify, apple, all the things so that they could be more accessible, because, again, I don't watch podcasts because I listen to them while I'm commuting or walking or something else. So I thought I figured out how to do that, but I pulled the audio from the clip that I got from the podcasting platform and it was terrible. It just there was so much static and it's fine in the video, so that's where it lives, all right. So today I want to talk about something I know we have talked about before, but it is always worth saying it again, and I really we need to hear things over and over and over again before it really sinks in, and or also, hearing things at different times in different seasons of life sometimes just hit different. We're able to take different things from the messages that we've already heard, and so I will say this again. It's something that I wrote to my email list about this last week and I feel like it's worth repeating here. So also, in case you are not on the email list, you can go sign up with the link in the show notes for that Catch all those goodies.
Speaker 1:So I've been seeing a lot of folks posting on the Instagrams about how they are riddled with anxiety and just going to run away. Some other like all these cute little memes about how they are stressed the fuck out and pretending it's basically just not there and just like, oh, this is just the way life is. And while, yes, there is just stress and anxiety, it doesn't have to be that. I work really intentionally about not blaming and because I have a strong understanding of what stress and anxiety do to the brain and body, not just from, like, my academic understanding, but from my own experience, and I know that it can feel crippling and I know that it's exhausting and I know it feels like it just might not go away sometimes and never really does, because that's just part of being human and it is real and it is hard and also it is up to you to do something about it. So what are you doing daily to help yourself? Because running away and pretending it's not there are not doing you any favors, and neither is posting cute little shit about how anxious you are on social media, and I see that as just like. I don't know if it's like a cry for help into the void of social media or just trying to relate and get you know other people. I don't know. We all, we all, want to feel like we are seen and heard and can relate to other people's experiences. So maybe that's it, I don't know.
Speaker 1:Ultimately, if you're not doing the things you can be to help yourself, learn about your, about yourself, and build a better relationship with yourself and your responses to stress, they are not going to change. Shit does not change unless you do. If you want something different, you have to do something different, and this might be a reminder that you need to hear over and over and over again, like I do. But you are a grown ass person with autonomy and agency to self govern, which means you get to choose. And again, life is fucking stressful. It's expensive as fuck to live. We are seeing active genocide, the depletion of all the natural resources, war all over the world, all while while we are here just trying to get through our jobs and our days, our relationships, which alone offer plenty of stress.
Speaker 1:As it is, stress is inevitable. Anxiety is your body's reaction to that stress. You get to choose how to navigate that. Will it ever go away completely? Maybe not, but you will never know that it can be better if you don't actually dedicate yourself to the process. It's not an all or nothing thing. It needs to be flexible because life happens and gets life-y, and there has to be grace and compassion for yourself in this process of learning and evolving and changing your habits, because the self-criticism and judgment and feelings of not being good enough these are the things that really create so much of that chronic stress and anxiety that we face. So, doing the things, creating the routines to care for ourselves all of that's not incredibly useful. If they are rigid expectations full of shame and blame, you're defeating the whole point.
Speaker 1:No time for shame, and that is the thing that I need constant reminder uh, reminders of for myself. It doesn't matter what anyone else is doing, which I also need constant reminders of. It doesn't matter what anyone else thinks about what you're doing, and this one really has come to the front of my awareness in the last year Just how much I worry about what other people think about what I'm doing, how much I feel like I need to defend my choices or justify why I'm doing something, the way that I am, or proactively prepare a response to the criticism that I am absolutely expecting. But the only place that's really coming from is my own head, and this, my dear friend, is a strong sign of chronic dysregulation in the nervous system. And so we use the tools to help heal long-term dysregulation. We practice our nervous system hygiene. In other words, do that shit.
Speaker 1:If you want things to change, if you want to feel differently, you have to do something different. It is absolutely that simple and we hate it. It is a choice that we make and it's not easy to choose to pull time from other things that are mindless and easy, that distract us from the discomfort rather and overwhelm and exhaustion and intrusive thoughts and the shame of blame and self-criticism and all the other things that come along with that. But it's what needs to happen if we want things to change. And I'm not talking about doing more and just adding more to your plate when you're already exhausted and overwhelmed and out of time. I immediately hear the responses of like what about? We're already tired and I don't have time and it already feels like I'm doing so much because you probably are. And yes to all of those things. So I'm not talking about adding more to your plate, doing more. A lot of times we think if we do more, that's the answer, and a lot of times it's actually doing less that we need Just choosing what it is that we are doing, being selective about where we are spending our time and our energy. So I'm talking about swapping out and, yes, maybe it will be more actions sometimes, but if that's the case, 10 minutes of your time every day everyone has that to dedicate. We just choose not to.
Speaker 1:I think about how much time I spend scrolling, how much time I just waste staring at my phone. I was appalled earlier this year to see screen time like account, whatever it is. You can see your screen time on iPhones. I don't know about androids because I don't know how to work those. My husband has one and I literally don't even know how to like turn it on to look at the time. I have no idea how you do those. Anyways, I was looking at my screen time count and it was like three hours a day Like what the fuck am I doing with that time Just staring at shit, and then I wonder why, like I, don't have time to do the things that matter, like my nervous system hygiene.
Speaker 1:It is up to you. You are your own responsibility. No one is coming to do this for you. No one can change your life for you. No one can heal your relationship to stress, ease your anxiety, create a better relationship with yourself. You have to do it. This is something I tell myself on a regular basis. Maybe you need it too. So, yes, stress and anxiety are overwhelming. It is exhausting. There are real things that happen. You are depleting resources. So, yes, absolutely, it can feel crippling and it will continue to feel like that and run your life until you choose to actively participate in guiding your nervous system in a different direction, actually choosing to take the actions necessary to care for yourself.
Speaker 1:Self care is not always about cozying up and feeling really good. That's part of it, one of my favorites. I love it a lot. But sometimes self care actually means doing the shit you don't want to do Pulling yourself away from Netflix or whatever. I say that because that's mine, where I spend a lot of my time staring at things when that's all you want to do. But you know, if you just take the time to do the other things practice your breathing, to get a different words, to communicate differently with your nervous system, get a different conversation, there we go going with yourself about the state of your being and direct that conversation in a place that you want it to go. Less reactive, to help journal some of your thoughts, move your body, move some of that stress, energy All of the other things that we can do to practice our nervous system hygiene and help self-regulate, even self-soothe.
Speaker 1:We are building these tools over and over and over again so that they actually work when we need them and not just when we need them. In a time of crisis, when we're so worked up we just need something to calm down yes, they're great for that too. And different things, you know, different tools help in different situations, but I'm talking about creating a sustainable routine to help prevent that being the baseline, to help prevent just being frazzled and overwhelmed and exhausted and reactive and irritable and just feeling like you're on the edge all the time. It doesn't have to be like that, but we have to choose to do the things that will help us not feel that way. So I feel like I'm talking in circles. I'm just gonna keep saying those things over again, because once is never Do that shit. If you want to feel better, you have to do something different. And if that is something that you need assistance with, if you need help just building your toolkit, helping to learn how to regulate and manage that stress book, a discovery call. The link is in the show notes and we can talk about what that might look like.
Speaker 1:Alright, folks, I am wrapping this up today. I hope that this was useful. If you did find it useful, please do share it with a friend so they might also have find some use in it. We will do this again next week. Until then, I am wishing you a beautiful week. You know that I am so grateful you're here. I do not take your time and attention for granted. Those are the most precious resources that we have. Until next week, peace out.