Monday reset. 10th March 2025
Overwhelm, overwhelm, overwhelm.
Abraham Lincoln once said, “In the end it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years.”
Good morning everyone,
We all experience thoughts that cause us anxiety, from time to time, it’s part of being human. I think, part of the art of being human, is finding tools to manage the anxiety that these thoughts can produce. We may need different tools at different times. Each Monday, we will be tooling up!
The world is overwhelming. There is even more noise than usual and that noise is almost unbearable to hear for many.
Keeping our nervous systems running on calm, is vital, always. Particularly, at the moment or in any times of feeling overwhelmed. When overwhelmed, our minds can take off at a 1000 miles an hour with anxious thoughts and logic goes out the door. We can only think and problem solve when we are relatively calm.
The anxious thoughts ramp up our nervous system taking us into protective threat mode. Cortisol and adrenaline course through out veins. Our hearts start to pump, our head can pound, we can feel shaky, our breathing gets quicker and we can start to feel hot and sweat.
Our ancestral brain feels like there is a grizzly bear at the door that we need to deal with. Unlike our ancestors we are not going to burn off all that cortisol and adrenaline, by fighting or running away from the bear. All that turmoil just sits there, feeling horrible. Feel familiar?
This can be triggered by the TV & news (probably a lot right now), going to the Dr, fearing someone is upset with us, worrying about what we might have said wrong in that conversation with Mavis yesterday or feeling a failure, a bad person (even though we know we are not) and so on. All sorts. Can you figure out your stressors? We usually notice the physical response before the thoughts that caused it.
When we are in this fight or flight state, what helps us the most is to move to our soothing system. The system that is engaged in our mind and body when we are calm, connected to people we love, out on a walk and so on.
Journal prompt: What is the first thing you notice in your body that tells you, that you are starting to get stressed? heart rate, face flush or something else?
Something new to try (maybe!?)
The soothing box. What is a soothing box? Weird name? bear with me! It is a go to ‘container’ that has things in, that make you feel good. And it can literally be any container, a box (you can decorate it) bag or whatever you want it to be. It can also contain anything you want it to contain. It is a prompt container to go to, that you know will help you to turn on your soothing system when you notice those signs you are becoming stressed. Some of my client have travel boxes and office boxes, containing different things.
Popular things my clients use are photos that make them smile (you cannot laugh and be anxious at the same time), chocolate, puzzle or colouring book, a favourite creative kit, jigsaw puzzle, music playlist, lavender oil, sayings that make them feel comforted, a prompt to a favourite or funny YouTube clips or programmes they find funny. Literally anything.
What would you put in your soothing box?
Wishing you a peaceful rest of your day
With all kind wishes
Jane
Accredited Cognitive Psychotherapist
Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT), Compassion Focussed Therapy (CFT), Mindfulness & Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
➡️If you would like to work with me on a 1:1 basis you can contact me at: mail@janewatkinscbt.co.uk
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I love the idea of the box! Things that spark joy. Things that shiftthe narrative. I have kind of turned my entire office into that, lol. Toys and books and things my 13-year-old self would've loved to have had. 😊 I also have touchstones to hold onto enroll through my fingers. When I'm triggered, I feel it in my chest, and that's my sign to investigate the narrative. 😊