feeling overwhelmed? Want to hide under the covers? Try this instead...

Grab a coffee and let's catch up ☕️ Aimée Rebecca | 6th Aug ​​​​

Last week, I took a few days off from...well, pretty much my entire life. I pushed back any non-urgent work, turned off my early morning alarm, cancelled my workout classes, and tossed my phone aside.

As a multi-passionate, hyperactive over-achiever with no chill and delusional self-belief, I have a habit of hopping from one project to the next and from one challenge to another until my little legs can't hop any further!

And then the inevitable happens...overwhelm enters the chat.

So let's chat about overwhelm and what we can do to keep it at bay.

Hi Reader,

It's me - Aimée Rebecca - your internet bestie who's back and better than ever! I spent a few days last week focussing on one thing and one thing only - chilling. I spent two full days painting and listening to audiobooks. I stayed in bed until I felt fully rested. I ate ice cream. All in all, I had an absolute blast doing not very much of anything and letting my batteries recharge 😌

You see, I often find myself in a vicious cycle. I enjoy a full calendar. I love setting myself new challenges and working towards new goals. I like to fill every second of my day with something productive, meaningful, enjoyable, wonderful!!!

And then I hit a brick wall and can't get out of bed for a week.

This time I managed to slam the brakes on just before I face-planted said brick wall, which I think is great progress. But I've still got a long way to go to break the cycle and stop running myself into the ground.

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Can you relate, Reader? Do you ever find yourself trying to spin a bunch of different plates at once, only to find as soon as you get the last one up there, they all come tumbling back down? Well, I've been doing some research and here's what I've learned...

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As much as our modern setup is cushy (electricity, clean water, modern medicine and, let's not forget, Domino's pizza delivered right to our front doorsteps), it's completely unnatural. The way we exist in society at this time is so completely at odds with how we've typically lived as a species that our brains haven't had a chance to catch up.

Take our flight or fight response, for example. That's there to keep us alive in the face of grave danger eg an enormous predator lurking in the bushes. And yet here we are in 2024 and we're all freaking out and getting sweaty palms every time we get an ominously-worded email from a manager or we have to give a presentation at work. We're social creatures by design but the constant dinging, pinging, and ringing of DMs, comments, phone calls, emails, notifications, GIFS, and the never-ending bombardment of updates, videos, tags, likes, shares, and photos of people and their babies you haven't even spoken to since school is surely information overload.

It's all too much! And here are some ways we can make it a little more manageable.

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The problem: constant connection

The solution: unplug

Iphones have a feature called downtime that allows you to schedule certain times during the day when specific apps become unavailable. (Don't worry - you can override it if you need to!) I'm sure other phones have a similar feature to help you unplug and get a little bit of digital downtime each day.

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The problem: too much noise

The solution: earplugs

I remember listening to The Diary of a CEO last year and learning that being exposed to consistent noise can lower your life expectancy. Like...hello?! Even those of us who don't live in built-up areas are often constantly bombarded with noise. From building work to barking dogs, traffic, to a neighbour's blaring TV, it all adds up.

These Loop earplugs are designed to filter background noise by 16dB while still allowing you to hear conversations. I'm ordering some!

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The problem: too little quality sleep

The solution: a consistent evening routine

As I learned from reading Atomic Habits, routines are powerful. If you're an insomniac like me, then maybe it's time for us to work on our evening routines. By performing the same set of actions each night at the same time, over time your brain will start to associate the routine with sleep. Also, getting to bed at the same time each night ensures you won't accidentally stay up until the early hours watching YouTube videos (guilty! 😳).

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The problem: the social media trap

The solution: stop comparing

It's easy to scroll through social media and whip yourself up into a panic. "Everyone else's life is much much cooler than mine! I need to work harder, achieve more, go more places, take up more hobbies, lose more weight, make more money..."

The truth is, social media is a highlight reel. And I know you know that deep down! But next time you start to compare your life to the glimpses of someone else's you see on the screen, remind yourself that you can't compare your 24 hours to someone else's snapshot.

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And take breaks! It's not just acceptable, it's necessary.

✨In Other News...

Ok, on a completely separate note, I took my niece and nephew to Longleat last weekend and held a tarantula. Me! I almost passed out trying to get a spider out of the bath last month!

Here's the thing - I am convinced that if you just keep doing scary things, eventually nothing will phase you. Because once you've done something, it's not scary anymore. So I'm officially challenging you to do something that scares you this week. Let me know how you get off. Either drop me an email or tag me on Instagram!

Watch my brand new vlog here!

And on that note, I'm off to make myself some well-deserved coffee.

See you next week!

Aimee xo