Ashley Brown 0:00 [intro]
There is much on our plate as women from working to raise your children to managing the household. Let's be real, it can be a lot at times. In this episode of the routine and things podcast, you'll learn a simple mindset trick when the things on your plate are becoming a bit too heavy. Listen in to hear how this simple mindset shift will help when the responsibilities of life are weighing you down.
Ashley Brown 0:41
Hey, girl, listen up. For the entire month of February, we are crowdfunding in order to create a planner for you. I am wanting to raise $25,000 Yes, you heard me right $25,000 in order to bring this planner to life, but I need your help. I would love if you would contribute to our crowdfunding campaign by giving what you have. By sharing with those you know, and by being a cheerleader for our campaign. I am so excited about this and I hope that you will contribute. The great thing about the campaign is when you give to us, you receive something back, your contribution will go towards us creating a routine forward planner that puts your mind at ease and helps you manage what matters. I am so excited about this. I hope you are too. To contribute to the campaign, you can head to routineandthings.com or click the link in the show notes.
Ashley Brown 1:48
Hey, girl, welcome back to another episode of the routine and things podcasts. So happy you're joining me for this episode. I thought about doing an episode like this because I know how much we have on our plate as women, many of us have a lot of moving parts to our life. We're not only trying to take care of ourselves, but we're taking care of many times children, even sometimes partners, you may even be caring for a family member as well. Not only that, but you also work or maybe you have a business on the side, it's a lot of moving parts. And when we are juggling so many things. Sometimes life the responsibilities of life can feel very heavy, and can begin to weigh us down. And trust me I've been here I've been in seasons of my life multiple times where just life and the responsibilities were like this cloud over my head, that just wouldn't move away.
Ashley Brown 2:57
And when I think back at those times, I just remember my mind being in a certain space. And so today I want to share with you a simple mindset shift that you can do when you feel like the responsibilities in your life are weighing heavily on you. Now I want to share that I'm speaking about a mindset shift. Because when we feel that life is heavy, that we're stressed, basically when we feel like life is heavy is we're stressed we're super stressed usually. And stress starts with your thinking, what your thoughts are in your head. And so we have to first address what's up in your head, right? Like when I am getting stressed. One thing that I have learned to do is think about what story am I telling myself that's getting me stressed? Because emotions start with how you are thinking and what you are thinking what story you're telling yourself. Can you tell I love Brene Brown.
Ashley Brown 4:10
So with that being said, I want to share with you possibly what could be causing you to feel so heavy in life right now like what thought process and what shift you can make. So this may not be across the board you life may feel heavy for you for many different reasons. But this tip will help you this mindset shift will help you no matter what you're feeling no matter what is causing the turmoil or what is causing you to feel weighed upon right now. So like I said, I've been in seasons of life where I did feel like life was very heavy and very dull and very dim, and I didn't see a lot of light. And in those times, I remember always thinking that it was so much to do as well as thinking about everything I had to do in times where I start to become very stressed and weighed upon, I'm thinking that like, I have all these things to do, like I have this to do and this to do and this to do.
Ashley Brown 5:23
So that could be causing you to feel very down and out, and could be causing you to feel stuck and causing you to feel super stressed right now. So you want to shift from thinking about everything you have to do, right, because like I said, we have much on our plates, to focusing on one thing at a time. This has been so helpful for me, focusing on one thing at a time and not bombarding my brain with constantly thinking about all the things I need to do. If I thought about all the things I need to do at every step, in my day, I will probably be in a mental institution, I'm not even gonna lie, because we have a lot of things to do many times, at all times, like if we thought about what we need to do, right now, we could write down a list. But thinking like, that doesn't help us. You know, thinking about all of the things at once doesn't help. It's kind of like looking like planning and looking at your planner and looking at all the things and you're like, dang, I got a lot to do this week, you instantly start to have anxiety, you instantly start to get stressed.
Ashley Brown 6:42
Because looking at them all at once isn't helpful. And it's not necessary, either. Like of course, like you plan it out. So okay, you have the plan. But looking at your entire week, focus on the next day focus on the day that you're in, right. And so thinking about and focusing on one thing at a time can be really helpful. And that's the mindset shift. When you notice that you are ruminating on all the things you need to do, take a step back, take a breather, and then say, You know what, let me focus on the first thing I need to do. Let me focus on this one thing that I can do right now, the one thing that I can make happen right now is just putting one foot in front of the other. Right? That's it you can't walk unless you put one foot in front of the other. So if you want to walk like you got some sense. You have to continue to put one foot in front of the other. It's overwhelming when you constantly think about every moving part of your life at one time. This is what many times gets us stuck is we are thinking about all of the things and then we have one decision fatigue two, we just kind of stall our brain.
Ashley Brown 8:04
Because your brain can only take in so much at one time. It can only think about so much at one time. So at that point, it's like locks up. It's like, Yep, I can't get nothing else in here. Right? Right. It's like when you're packing a bag and you try to get one more thing in your bag. But you can't get nothing else in the bag. Like, Girl, nothing else is going in the bag unless you take something out. And then maybe it can fit. It's the same thing with your mind, you thinking about so much at once is like your brain is like nothing else is gonna fit in here. So it locks up, it shuts tight. And then that's when you start to feel stuck, you start to get stuck because that your brain is just overloaded is overloaded with so much. And so taking a breather, taking a step back in saying what's the one thing I'm gonna focus on, let all the other stuff go, that's the thing, you have to let all the other things go out of your head, that doesn't mean they're gonna go untouched. Right?
Ashley Brown 9:05
That's why I plan having a plan is super important. Of course, you know, I'm huge on planning. So with that being the case, you're not going to let them go undone. But right now, it's not important for you to focus on all of the things it's only important for you to focus on one thing at a time. Right? When you think about everything at once that you need to do the anxiety and the stress paralyzes you. That inaction then makes you feel ill equipped. And that's when you feel weighed down in life. Because when you're thinking about all of the things, you are then going to not move on anything because you're thinking about too much to even move or take action or anything. And when you don't take action on the things that you want to take action on and need to take action on and you're not taking that action then that means that you start to feel like Dang, you start to feel like you're failing and like, you start to feel like you're getting behind really.
Ashley Brown 10:05
And so just know that doing all of the thinking about all the things at once isn't helping you it's really hurting you. One thing at a time is the way to go. Take a step back in those times, think about the first thing you need to do, rather than everything you need to do. Because when you accomplish one thing, it gives you the momentum, and feeds the part of your brain that knows you are capable. Right? When you accomplish one thing, when you move towards accomplishing one thing, your brain instantly gets a signal like, Yep, I got this. And so you get that momentum. And that's when you can think about the next thing. But one foot in front of the other. One foot in front of the other is like when we can be thinking too far into the future. Or we make assumptions about what's gonna happen in the future. That stalls us that makes us feel stressed, it brings about anxiety, that's where anxiety comes from really trying to anticipate the future is like we don't know the future.
Ashley Brown 11:14
And thinking about the future in advance isn't helping. Right, I remember when I was a nurse, a bedside nurse, one thing that would happen is of course, you're getting report from the previous nurse. And she may be talking about how the patient was very rude to her, or they had a big attitude. And I'm the type of person where I take everything with a grain of salt, just in terms of someone's experience with something. Because I know that I may have a unique or different experience with that same thing. And so I would never psych myself out like, oh, shoot, I have a patient that has an attitude i was like, okay? Like, okay, the patient has an attitude with you. That does, I'm not gonna assume I'm not gonna think that far in advance to be like, Oh, when I go into a room, they're gonna have attitude?
Ashley Brown 12:09
No, because sometimes they did. Sometimes they didn't, I didn't know but I wasn't going to psych myself out, right, I wasn't going to stress myself out and get anxious about it. So is the same, do not continue to think about everything at once. That's going to stress you in life, one thing at a time. And I know sometimes it can be, it can come about naturally to think about everything, because we have so many moving parts in our life. But if like I said, you have to take that step back when you're feeling that stress when you're feeling that anxiety. And really think about am I thinking about too much right now? At once? And if so, yes. Go ahead and focus on one thing at a time. And this really helps you in any situation that you're feeling, if you can focus on the next step, Right?
Ashley Brown 13:00
If you can focus on doing the next right thing, any any parents out here that have watched frozen two with your child a million times, you know what I mean, when I say the next right thing. If you focus on the next right thing, right in quotations, but if you focus on the next thing, that's it, that's the mindset shift that will save you from feeling weighed upon, and like life is too much. So that's my tip for today, one foot in front of the other, I hope that was helpful for you. And I want to just say or remind you or just if this is your first time hearing that we are crowdfunding this month, the whole month of February, which I'm super excited about. We are trying to raise $25,000 for routine and things in order to create a planner for you. A routine forward planner, a planner that I really hope eases your mind. A planner that I hope gives your brain a break a planner that decreases your mental load and that helps you plan with more ease.
Ashley Brown 14:16
I am so excited about the crowdfunding I'm so excited about the contributions that everyone has had in the crowdfunding campaign and I am just so overjoyed about this. So if you would like to contribute which I would be so grateful and appreciative of you can do so by clicking the link in the show notes to contribute to the campaign or you can go to routineandthings.colm and it's there as well for you to contribute. But thank you so much for listening today. Be sure to rate and review the show if you absolutely love it. And share this episode with someone you feel may need this today. But until next time, continue to enjoy wherever you are whatever you're doing stay happy girl, and I'll talk to you next week.
Ashley Brown 15:04 [Outro]
Thanks for listening. If you enjoy today's episode, take a screenshot and share it on social. I would love to know you're listening and for tools to help you start, maintain and enjoy your routines. Be sure to head to routineandthings.com. Here's to staying happy.