Back to basics
You’re overwhelmed, frustrated, and lacking motivation. You have low energy, feel blah, and the stress you have keeps piling up. You can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel and you’re burnt out.
This is what happens when your nervous system is screaming ‘help me’! These are all signs that your body is talking to you - through physical symptoms. If you ignore these signs, which often happens, the symptoms get louder. That low energy will continue until its addressed. The stress will continue to eat you alive until you find relief. The overwhelming feeling to give up or run away will continue to feel urgent until you make a change or find some peace and quiet in your days.
You body is always providing you will information if you listen and pay attention. Hunger cues, yawning, headaches, back pain, sore throat, brain fog - these are all signals that your body and mind need something from you. These may also be accompanied with specific feelings like feeling down, lethargic, unhappy, stressed, irritated, frustrated, or angry. Our body and brain work together, so if you are lacking at taking care of yourself physically, then your mind is going to be affected as well. This is when its important to go back to basics.
When I refer to basics, I am talking about the essential things your body and mind need to function best, or better, throughout the day.
Basics look like:
Eating 3 balanced meals a day - breakfast, lunch, and dinner
Drinking roughly a gallon of water a day
Sleeping 7-9 hours per night
Taking showers and keeping up with hygiene
Daily exercise (at least 20 mins)
Daily stress management through self care
When my clients share that they are feeling ‘off, I have conversations with them about these basic tasks and see how they are doing in each of these areas. More often times than not, they are lacking in 1-3 areas. This is why I preach about self care and the basic things needed to feel just ok. So this is the baseline. This is where we start. Once we can identify which areas need improvement we can set up an action plan and goals. It’s amazing how much getting adequate sleep can make such a difference in functioning. How making sure you’re eating throughout the day has a direct effect on how you feel mentally and emotionally. How taking a 20 minute walk can lighten the stress you’re carrying.
If you find yourself burnt out, stressed out, mentally spent, and emotionally done - start with the basics. Forget everything else and focus on these 6 things first. Once you can create a rhythm and be consistent in these basic tasks, you will be able to see yourself functioning a completely different way. No more headaches, no more exhaustion, no more doom scrolling at 2am. Nothing is more important than making sure you are healthy in all facets so you can function your best. It’s ok to be basic sometimes.
