This is something that’s been on my mind for a while, but have struggled to put it into words.
Today, I decided to take my own advice and be a ‘do-er’ and not stay stuck in the frozen mode of doing nothing. I told myself, as I would with my clients and family, to stop trying to be perfect and just say it. Can you relate to this situation?
Through conversations and coaching sessions, I’m sensing that a lot of people are really struggling emotionally more so than at any point since the pandemic began.
While we all have different scenarios as to why this could be happening, I have an educated guess as to the main reason why for most of us. You see, when our world shut down in March 2020 — and, in places all across the country, remained shut down for months or longer — we had to shift into survival mode.
I often speak about the two states of being:
Powerful (where we’re open to infinite intelligence and creativity) vs. primal (fight-or-flight mode, where we’re just trying to survive and not to die).
There’s a reason we have the ability to activate fight-or-flight mode. It’s the human being’s defense mechanism. Let’s say your dog runs into the street and there’s a car coming. You need fight-or-flight mode to kick in so you can take action without spending hours contemplating what you should do.
At the beginning of 2020, I feel like fight-or-flight mode kicked in for a lot of us during the pandemic and a lot of us are having trouble turning it off. And that’s tiring, borderline debilitating, really. Our bodies and minds are not built to spend a lot of time in a primal state.
And the accumulation of all that stress can have devastating effects not just on our bodies in the form of weight gain and other critical health markers, but on our minds as well.
We may have been able to put our heads down and power through the pandemic for a period of time. But we can’t outrun this kind of stress indefinitely. And I’m sensing that, for many of us, those bills are coming due.
So I want to say this: whether you’re a current client, a former client, or simply a subscriber to this blog; if you’re reading this, I consider myself your coach.
And while you know that I’m educated and experienced when it comes to physical exercise and supportive nutrition, I’m also a life coach and work with clients when it comes to mental health.
Look, I’m struggling with this too and I have my own coaches to help guide and support me as well.
If this is you, if you’re struggling, if you feel like you’re drowning in stress and no longer have the energy to power your way through it, please reach out to me. I’m always happy to talk things through, help reframe some thoughts and beliefs, help support you to a fulfilling, less stressful, and more powerful state. If you need more than my coaching, I am also more than happy to connect you with someone right here in our community who can help.
There, I said it. I feel better already and I hope you do too.
