How Do You Define Overwhelm and Exhaustion?

This morning, as I was contemplating my workout, I was reading the Phit n phat web page archives from 2015. Mainly for inspiration on what to do next with my nutrition.  

Her article was about a reader who said.... “Do you really think I can do this today?  My body feels so tired.”

Her response, “Does it feel doable?”Does that feel doable? 
What feels doable to you today?  Are you emotionally overwhelmed?  I talked with my daughter last night and she's feeling overwhelmed with college ending. Her boyfriend. Life changing. Its reasonable to feel overwhelmed then.   I sorta hope she reads this blogpost and gets something out of it. 

Me, my overwhelm comes from a thought that "I'm not doing anything to move forward!" I'm stuck in a loop of  Plan, Act until I want sugar, stop the plan, restart tomorrow. I'm not making action happen. I think and I do not DO. I LIE to myself and say "its okay!"  But really, its not okay.  I want to stop feeling overwhelmed. I want to tell myself a new story.  

I describe myself as being emotionally confused.  But from my research, here’s the kicker – being "emotionally exhausted, or overwhelmed", does not mean I am physically exhausted. What it means is that I am telling myself a story that is Bullshit. 

If you have anxiety issues, it would mean that "Your thoughts of sadness and worry, are driving feelings of overwhelm, which is creating actions of inaction, which are resulting in more thoughts of sadness and worry."   The cycle goes on and on....overwhelm leads to inaction. Inaction leads to more thoughts of overwhelm, which leads to further inaction..... 

Remember the model?  (click that red question, it leads to a page about it.   Yeah...LIFE coaching fits in this whole mind/food game also!  Just because emotions are being over worked and  you feel overwhelmed, that doesn't mean that you actually ARE.  In fact, your BODY is ready to go. Its rested (that's all you've been doing).   

It’s these thoughts that have taken over and created a story that my brain is creating evidence for.

So how do I stop the spiral?

Work on creating new evidence.  Do something SMALL to move forward. Find your NEXT best choice and do that.

Refocus and recommit to your goals. Just because your thoughts have sorta taken you hostage doesn't mean you can't break the cycle. Rewrite your story. Visualize, count backwards 5,4,3,2,1 as Mel Robbins teaches.  Imagine your new story!  

Set aside your anxiety and overwhelm for a short time, complete a workout, its so freeing to the mind.  It will create evidence that YOU are meeting YOUR goals. 
Set aside your overwhelm and write a realistic plan for the next set of meals. Give your brain and body evidence that YOU are meeting Your goals.

Put One food forward/ I will HOLD my head up high.  I will find the thoughts and feelings and actions that I need to do to take care of ME.  

I will use a new model for my thoughts. 

One that shows results can happen. They ARE possible.  

I’ll start re-writing the story.