Recognize Your Non-Negotiable Needs

Write down your top two or three things you need to do daily in order to achieve emotional well-being, good physical health, and a sense of balance.  Include the bare minimum you could do to meet these needs.  To meet your needs might require you to ask someone for help or say no to a specific request, but think of it as saying yes to your happiness.

For example:

Emotional well-being – daily meditation and/or deep breathing; journaling

Good physical health – daily exercise; consistent sleep

Sense of balance – time to relax and unwind; time to play

Set Realistic Expectations About What You Can Do and What You Cannot Do

Create a plan, do what you can, and make adjustments as you go.  Tasks you cannot comfortably fit in a day will just have to wait.

Regularly Check-In with Yourself to Ensure Your Choices are Supporting Your Intentions

Challenge the belief that tells you that you must do everything yourself, and seek help when needed.  Take time to check-in with what you really want in your every day life.    If you realize that your day-to-day experiences are not fulfilling, make little adjustments where needed. 

Learn from Your Emotions Instead of Reacting to Them

When we are performing a new task, trying a new activity, or facing a change to our routine, our emotions run wild, from excitement to fear, eagerness to anxiety, and many shades in between!

Some of these feelings are natural consequences of stretching our comfort zone, but other times they are indicators about what is not working and what needs to change.

The next time you are feeling overwhelmed, ask yourself these four questions:

• What led up to this?
  
• Is this feeling a response to ignoring a need, pushing to myself too hard, expecting too much of myself, or treating myself without kindness and compassion?
• Is this a feeling I could release by coming back to the present moment (eg. worry about the future) or is it something with a lesson for me (eg. feeling overwhelmed because you need help or anxious because you need a break)?
• If there is a lesson to be learned, what can you do or change to apply it?

When you learn from your emotions, they become less overpowering and you will become more present, more balanced, and more effective.

Life is simple, do not overanalyze it.  Keep your life healthy, active, and just be YOU!