I’m “over” it this week!
I’m overtired, overworked and overwhelmed.
We have lived out of our house for three weeks while doing mold renovation, unearthed our entire backyard to put a French drain in to prevent future mold, and are being presented with all new work circumstances. To say the least, it has put some serious strain on every aspect of my life.
But my point of oversharing the craziness of the month is to point out how we can have our own set of “overs” in our own lives, whether or not we are grieving.
But when we are grieving, everything seems to be an “over”, doesn’t it?
Overtired, Overworked, Overwhelmed. You name it.
When we are grieving:
We can be overtired because we can’t sleep at night, especially between 3-5am when our lungs are trying to heal and release the grief energy that is residing there. (More on this next week!)
We can feel overworked either from the new tasks we’ve acquired since the loss of our loved one or from managing all of the details that must be tended to before and after all of the memorial services.
Life itself can overwork us some days. With the amount of stress we are putting on our bodies from processing our grief, it does not take much to make us feel overwhelmed. Our adrenals are working overtime to process all of this grief stress. That is why we find that sometimes, the most simple task can send us over the overwhelm edge.
But there is something we can do that will help us with ALL of these “overs”.
We can take time, fill ourselves up and remember the most important over word in our vocabulary: Overflow
“We can only give from overflow.”
–Jenn August – Amazing Certified Business Success Coach
What does that mean exactly? We can only give from overflow. It means that if you have nothing to give because you’re giving all you’ve got to heal your broken heart, it’s OK to take the day off. Take the week off. Take the time you need to fill your energy supply back up before you give again. Do what fills you: a walk in nature, a dance class, coffee with a friend, meditation. Do what fills your soul so that you can replace your heavy “overs” with overflow BEFORE you give more of your energy away. Once you are overflowing with energy, you aren’t giving from a place that is going to take away from you. If you give from an empty place, you will find that it is much easier to slip into depression or sadness. Since part of our grief journey is moving through our sadness and depression, let’s do something to support our healing. Decide today to honor your heart and only give from overflow.
Loving and knowing this mantra, I use it and preach it all the time. (Thank you Jenn August!! Soo grateful for you!)
So this week when I hit maximum overwhelm status, I stopped in the middle of my very hectic day, during the middle of my very hectic week and popped into the Zen Center for a quick 20 minute solo meditation. I just stopped and filled, for only 20 minutes though because that was all the available time I had..but guess what…that was all the time I needed. I was filled after those 20 minutes.
It was all I needed to set me straight for the rest of the day. I felt filled and I was all of a sudden, in a matter of minutes, giving from overflow. I was nicer to my kids, my husband, my friends. It changed everything about my overwhelming week.
So if you are finding your week to be completely overwhelming too, stop and find your fill. Do what makes you overflow again. You might not get to overflow on your first attempt and that is OK too. It gives you that much more reason to stop and fill again. But decide today for yourself, that you are only giving from a place of overflow.
What did you do to fill yourself up this week? What are you doing to reach your overflow? I can’t wait to hear what you’ve decided to do. Share with all of us so we can be inspired too!
Love and Blessings,
Erin