#035 - What to Do When You Feel Overwhelmed

Hey friends, welcome back to this edition of the Hit Splits Podcast. My name is Shelly Hitz and today we're going to talk about what to do when you feel overwhelmed. And I just returned from vacation this past week and it was so ironic. We got back on a Tuesday evening, got all unpacked, I was ready to go Wednesday, get caught up, you know, with my email and my team and all the things and when you know it, our Internet was down all day on Wednesday. They said it was probably due to some form of vandalism. I haven't really heard anything more, but it affected 20000 people in our area. It was down all day. It finally came up at 6:30 at night. But by that time I just did a few things and went on my way. But I tried to connect to my hotspot on my phone and it wouldn't connect on my computer my but it would on my iPad. So I'm trying to hack around on my iPad and there's just things that you just can't do as quick, as fast, as efficient or at all on an iPad. And so it was frustrating. And then this is also the time that I need to get the end of year finances together for my accountant and the reports and the things that we need so we can submit our business taxes on time. And we're making some changes this year to the way we're doing promotions and there's just a lot that needs to be to be done. And I've been feeling overwhelmed. And so I was thinking about it today, I was like, what do you do when you feel overwhelmed? And what tends to work for me is spending a dedicated planning session where I'm journaling, I'm writing and brainstorming as a business meeting with God. And so if you've been around for any amount of time, you know, I talk a lot about business meetings with God and it's different than just a typical planning session because you're praying, you're asking God for wisdom, but you know, you're doing the work. You're sitting down, you're, you're mapping it out, you're, you know, just, you're doing the things. And if you haven't gotten our free training on this yet, you can go to trainingauthors.com forward/businessmeeting. And if you're in Christian Book Academy, we have a lesson on this in the book launch module. And so anyways, I'll put the link in the show notes. But anyways, I just decided today I was just gonna Spend several hours, and I just. I felt like I had to get the chaos and the overwhelm and all the things in my head organized. It's like everything was just a mess in my brain, right? And in my to do list and all the things. And so it helps help me just to sit down, get organized, be able to write out the priorities for this week, for this month, for this quarter, you know, and I finally feel like I can take a breath. And now it's like, okay, I can communicate with my team, and let's move forward. And it's. It's always a work in progress. I say playing in pencil because, you know, there's always things that come up, but, you know, there are dozens of things you can do every day, and sometimes it can get really overwhelming. In fact, when I was in my business meeting with God today, he revealed to me that part of the overwhelming feeling is, you know, January's a big time, that people even in business and fitness and, you know, all the things that they run challenges. And I happen to be part of, like, five different things. And I just. Several of them started when we were on vacation, and so I already felt behind on those challenges. And then I feel like behind on, you know, all the things that we need to do for some upcoming promotions and some, you know, different things, and, you know, just even recording for the podcast, and there's just a lot. And so I took a deep breath, and when God showed me that, I was like, oh, yeah. And so then every day, these emails are coming into my inbox. Day one of the challenger, day 10 of the challenger, or, you know, whatever. And it's like I could feel the anxiety rising, right? The pressure, like, I'm already behind. I can't keep up. I can't even do the things that I'm supposed to be doing. And I just felt like the Lord was like, shelly, just give yourself some grace and step out of most of those challenges. So I chose one that I will continue with for the rest of January, and I think it lines up with the things that I was already planning on doing anyways. And so it doesn't take me on a rabbit trail, right, of off of the things that. That I already need to get done. And so that's something to. To consider as well. But, you know, that was an aha moment and an insight that I only got because I took time to stop. And when you're overwhelmed, it's easy to say, I don't have time. I don't have time to plan. I don't have time to pray. I don't have time to sit down and journal and write and strategize and all other things. But many times that's what will give you those aha moments that will then turn the ship into the right direction. And so I just wanna encourage you if you can, after you listen to this, set a timer for 10 to 15 minutes. Doesn't have to be a long time. And just begin praying with God and asking him what it is that he has for you today. What is the priority for today? What is the priority for this week? What is the priority for this month, this quarter? I mean, however you plan. Maybe you're not even planning out this quarter, but that's kind of how I do it. But just set a timer for 10 to 15 minutes. Start praying, start writing, start journaling. Look, you know what, typically what I'll have out is I'll have out my calendar, I'll have out my task manager. If you use something like that or a planner, whatever, whatever you know, type of thing you use. And then I usually have just something where I can write out with, you know, like physically with my hand, whether it's on my iPad using the Apple pencil on good notes or it's physically paper and pen or. I'm gonna have to do a podcast on this soon. But I just found this weekend rocket book and I love it. It's like a hybrid, which that's what I am. I, I love doing something, some things, you know, in analog and some things digital and the rocketbook journal and planner you are able to plan and everything. You can snap a picture, it uploads it. I'm currently uploading it to Google Drive. It will transcribe it for me and then you can actually erase it and just spray it with water and wipe it off and it's like the everlasting planner journal, all the things. So I'm really excited about it. But anyways, I digress. I just, you know, I have those things, you know, your calendar, your, your, your main dates that are going on your planner and then something to be writing with and just ask the Lord for wisdom. But if you want a little more step by step advice or you know how I do my business meetings with God, go ahead on over to training authors.com forward/business meeting. Or if you're a Christian Book Academy member, just check out the lesson we have in the book launch module and I will talk to you next time. Bye bye.