1 Girl , 2 Cups
Well…. 1 YOU, 2 Cups (but I couldn’t resist the title)
Have you ever felt like you just can’t take on anything more? You know that you need to in order to make progress and feel better, but you’re already feeling overwhelmed and don’t have the capacity to do more…
This post is going to help you solve this problem so you can feel more capable, confident, and in control. *The caveat is that you have to read it thoroughly and put what’s in here into practice- Can you do that? I promise it’ll be worth it*
First I want you to picture a cup in front of you. This cup is YOU- your state, your capacity, your load. Now, think about all the stressors in your life that go into that cup- physical, mental, and emotional. Often it’s aspects like: work, financial stressors, fears, catasrophizing, injuries or illness, health markers, anxiety, and caretaking. It can also be things like poor nutrition, self-care, sleep, and habits.
That cup can get filled up pretty quickly. And then what tends to happen is it overflows. The stressors/load in our life are greater than the space or capacity that we have in our cup, and that will always lead to overflow (and us feeling like we’re drowning).
SO, what can we do to prevent the overflow…?
Answer:
Decrease what’s being poured into our cup
Get/build a bigger cup
By doing both of these things, we put ourselves into a position of power. We increase our capacity and our resilience and are able to manage our stress and load. When we do both of these things, it helps us hold and manage the stress without it negatively impacting our ability to regulate emotions and utilize our cognitive brain.
Here are some examples of how you can do both:
Prioritize sleep (wind down before bed, have a bedtime routine, get as much sleep as possible)
Be solution oriented and looking for opportunities to learn and grow
Eating enough (things like protein, fiber, fruits and vegetables, whole foods, and calories in ranges that support us thriving)
Have support systems (friends, family, mentors/professionals/coaches)
Spending 10 minutes a day with yourself (walking, journaling, breathing)
Making proactive choices vs reactive ones
Challenging beliefs that are holding you back or making you feel small
Having food regularly prepped and available
Training and exercise that is progressive
Practicing flexibility
Pushing into the hard and doing the small things that support you moving forward (no matter how small or slow it feels)
Managing expectations
Staying hydrated
Limiting or being aware of caffeine and alcohol intake
Clear communication and boundary setting
Focusing on what you CAN control
Education and critical thinking
Mindfulness and intentionality
Now you’re armed with some tools to reduce the hindering contents of your cup and turn your tall cup into a venti. And, as I mentioned above, when you put these into practice, you WILL be more resilient, gain strength and confidence all around, and have more capacity so you can truly make progress and feel pretty damn good along the way.
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