Take a chill pill.

Take a deep breath, relax & remind yourself that feeling overwhelmed is just part of the process of living life and getting comfortable in the messiness – and it’s sure as heck a lot better than being bored.

I’ve had to remind myself to chill out about my emotions and reactions to things a lot over the last few weeks. As you may have seen on my Instagram, I am very convinced that this past weekend’s lunar eclipse has had me feeling all sorts of energies & releases to a highly intense degree that I’m not really used to.

( I will do a whole separate post on the moon and how fascinated I am by how much it can affect our bodies, our minds and our spirits (is anyone else fascinated by this?!?! Like what the heck how cool and powerful and semi scary because of the power and intensity at the same time…) SO intriguing. )

But regardless of where our flood of emotions comes from, we all know one thing about it: it COMES. Sometimes the feeling sneaks up on you and sometimes it’s a gradual build up when issue after stressor after unexpected project after annoying person after obsessive thought piles up and up until you can’t take it anymore and you kind of break.

I won’t get into far too much detail, but I had one of those weeks last week. Everything seemed to be going wrong… From my kitten Hudson developing an infected abscess on his tummy (so sad) to me locking myself out of my apartment more times than I can count to lots of sleepless nights to my cousin’s dog passing away to forgetting about a big deadline I had and lots of other little annoyances. And then, on a much more real note, my dear brother in law, who has been in my life since I was young and is my real brother in my eyes & one of my best friends, lost his father suddenly.

That put everything into perspective for me and also cast an even darker shadow over the week– I kept asking myself whatttt is going on?! Why are all of these tragic, upsetting and frustrating things happening to me and the people I love and when are we all going to get a break?

And after days of struggling and staying up all night with Hudson because I was such a wreck that he was going to die in his sleep from his minor abscess infection (#newmom), something hit me:

CHILL THE F OUT.

Chill. Out.

It was time to start letting that shit go. All of these upsetting things were happening, yes, and I had no power over fixing them. The only thing I had power over was my reaction to them. I am not the kind of person who can wake up in a shitty mood several days in a row… I just can’t. If I do, I make it my mission to turn that mood around. I’ll do whatever it takes to make it happen and try to feel better, because letting that depressed feeling envelope me isn’t really an option in my mind.

Here are a few things I do when I absolutely know I need to Chill the F Out:

A) YOGA. I won’t go into too much detail about this one because you all know that yoga is my saving grace, helps me breathe, clears my head & gets me out of a funk simply by moving my body and releasing that negative energy. If you want to hear more about this,  I am happy to write a full post on yoga again soon. I could talk about it for days. 😉

B) Switch Things UP!! If I’ve been spending most of my time around people and I am feeling super overwhelmed or stressed out, then I know its time to switch gears and spend some time alone. Seriously– when I feel this way I know it’s a good idea for me to not even answer my phone calls for a day or two (sorry peeps I do love you, I swear) because I need that time to be ALONE and to let that negative energy release. I spent a day like that at the end of last week and it was so therapeutic, I can’t even tell you. Alternately, if I’ve been spending more time alone due to work or mood or anything, then I switch it up by making plans with people that I love and feeding off of their positive energy. Sometimes all it takes is a slight little change in what you’re doing to change your attitude.

C) Being kind to myself & making healthy choices: I always feel my best when I am exercising consistently, eating well and sleeping well. If any one of those three things is missing, I feel very thrown off. I know that my lack of sleep as a new kitten mama has been throwing me off, so I have made it a point to try to sleep better and chill out about Hudson in the middle of the night because the truth is he is FIIIINE and I know that. I have to take care of myself first and then I am able to best take care of my kitty baby and everyone else around me.

D) JOURNALING! When I was looking up different ways to deal with the flood of emotions I was experiencing from the full moon, every single resource said this: Journal, journal, journal. Write your heart out. Funny enough, this bloggy is pretty much my journal anyway so you guys are getting to read my emotions + reflections firsthand most of the time. Pretty fun, right?! But seriously… Getting your emotions down on paper helps so much. For me at least, I can think more clearly once I start getting the excess down and out.

E) Good music. Music has always helped me calm down when I really need it most. Hearing someone sing a song lyric that is so on point to how I feel makes me feel so much less alone in whatever way I’m feeling in that moment– plus the beauty and creativity behind good music is so inspiring and soul-soothing. Blasting good music is a must.

F) Family!!! I know I am always writing about the importance of friends and family and good people in your life, but when you’re really down in the dumps… Family is more helpful than words can describe. When I was super upset last week about everything going on, I called my house and talked to my dad and then my mom one after the other, and I immediately started feeling so much better. Their words aren’t a cure-all, but they are so comforting and they know me SO WELL that it’s hard not to feel better after talking to them. Share what you’re feeling with those around you, because it really helps.

Has anyone else been particularly overwhelmed with life the past few days/weeks? If so, would love to hear your tips for dealing! I could always use a few more tricks up my sleeve. 😉