Money Saving Mom®

Do you live in such a way that you always feel rushed, no matter what? It’s like you can’t ever get caught up and stay that way for more than a minute.

A few weeks ago, for whatever reason, I woke up in a funk and I just couldn’t get back on my game no matter what.

After some serious looking at my schedule, I realized what I had done: I put more on my schedule then what was realistic. Since I’ve been working on going to bed early and getting up early, I’ve had a lot more breathing room in my schedule. But that doesn’t mean that I don’t still have to be realistic.

So this day, I just felt stressed, rushed, and overwhelmed. Like I needed to live life at breakneck speed in order to get everything done that needed to be done.

When I got into that mode a few weeks ago, I knew it wasn’t how I wanted to go through my day. So instead of continuing on the hamster wheel of crazy, these were the four things I did to stop feeling rushed:

1. Re-Assess My Schedule and To-Do’s

It isn’t easy to do this, but I re-assessed my schedule and to-do’s and started marking things off my list. I was feeling rushed, because I put too much on my schedule.

That day, I didn’t have to write multiple blog posts and clean out my inbox completely like I had put on my to-do list. Those were good things, but they weren’t absolutely necessities.

I also had an appointment with the dentist that I was dreading. It was making me feel stressed on top of an already full day, so I re-scheduled it for a day that I didn’t have anything else going on (they were super gracious to allow me to reschedule!).

When you start to feel rushed, evaluate your schedule. What can you cut or move to another day?

Is there something on your to-do list that is causing you to feel extra overwhelmed? I realized it was my dentist appointment that was causing me to feel very stressed (silly, I know, but just keeping it real here). Once I removed it from my day, I wasn’t as overwhelmed.

2. Stop Feeling Obligated to Myself and Others

In all honesty, I had put almost all of the the obligations on myself that day. I don’t know, maybe I thought I was the productivity queen when I had made my to do list or something! I had added a lot of extra things without thinking about the other things that were already on my plate.

Stop feeling so obligated to yourself or to others. Just take that stuff off your task list for the day. It will be okay. Really examine your heart and your to do list and ask, “Am I feeling obligated to myself or others to do anything on this list?”

3. Ask “What Sparks Joy?”

Even though 2016 is supposed to be my Year of Rest, I forgot about that when I was putting together my schedule on that day I felt super overwhelmed. 

Instead of filling up my to-do lists, this year, I am challenging myself to really evaluate what sparks joy in my life. There are definitely going to be some things that I have to do as part of being alive and having a clean and organized home and life. But for everything that’s extra, my barometer for deciding if I should say “yes” to something starts with thinking about my genuine enthusiasm for something.

The more I surround myself with things and projects that truly spark joy, the more encouraged and refreshed I feel.

4. Make Space For My Soul to Breathe

It is so important to take time and let your soul breathe. There are times when I just need to sit and be quiet. I’ve been trying to give myself permission to feel instead of stuff my feelings. To be still instead of feeling like I need to be productive. To take care of myself instead of pushing through when I’m tired.

A question I’ve been asking myself and others is, “What does your soul need right now?” Just being aware of this can make such a difference in the actions and decisions we make.

What do you do when you feel rushed? What helps you break free from living life at breakneck speed?

I will admit, I was quite a bit skeptical about the 5 AM Miracle book. Because Jeff Sanders isn’t a mom with young kids, I wondered if his methods would be applicable to my life. I was pleasantly surprised to find so many helpful tips and insights in it. 

I loved this quote: “Whenever I feel stuck or burdened by my circumstances, I look for a new perspective. I ask myself, ‘What am I missing? If I absolutely had to, how could I solve this problem?'”

Want to know what the number one thing is that is killing your success? It’s the belief that you can’t do it. When you believe you can’t, it paralyzes you from being able to move forward and be successful.

Success begins with your mindset. When you believe you can’t, you cheat yourself from reaching your goals.

Ask Yourself “What’s Possible?”

Don’t say:

• “That’s impossible.”
• “That’ll never work!”
• “I can’t.”

Instead, ask yourself: “What’s possible?” and go from there. When you tell yourself you can’t do something, then you aren’t even giving yourself a chance to see if you can. Get rid of those self-limiting thoughts and open your mind to the possibilities before you.

Have Honest Dreams

When I talk about dreaming and thinking “what’s possible?”, I’m not talking about pie-in-the-sky dreams. I could say, “I’m going to believe I will win the lottery or buy an airplane”, but those things are likely not going to happen.

That’s not what I’m challenging you to do. I want you to have honest dreams that are realistic and based in what you do have the ability to do.

Surround Yourself With Cheerleaders

You need to have people around you who believe in you and believe that things are possible. When you surround yourself with people who are full of negative talk (constantly saying things like, “Life is hard. This is awful. I can’t don’t it. You can’t do it.”), it’s going to bring you down.

Some of those people might be living in your house or they might be related to you. You can’t cut them out of your life, but you can choose to bring new people into your life to counterbalance the negativity.

Develop new friendships, find good podcasts, read encouraging books, follow inspiring people on Periscope, surround yourself with cheerleaders. These might be people that you never meet in real life, but they make you feel like you can do it.

Tell Yourself the Truth

All of us have lies about ourselves rolling around in our heads. Lies that tell us we’re not good enough, we don’t have what it takes, that we don’t measure up.

When you start thinking, “I’m a failure; I failed; I’m no good” those are lies and you need to replace them with truths about yourself. You do have worth, you are good enough, the world needs your story and your gifts.

Remind Yourself of Your Successes

Take the time to think back over some of the things you have been successful at in the past. Let those wins fuel your drive to tackle the problems before you.

Also, read success stories of others. This is a great way to feel inspired and push forward in your life. 

I am cheering for you! Take the next step. Do the next right thing. The world needs your gifts and your story. The world needs you!