Kc Rossi 0:03
Welcome, welcome back to Women Developing Brilliance — The Spirit of Business. I hope you enjoyed the five part mini-series that rolled out this week. It was a previous live stream that I really wanted my podcast listeners to be able to tune into, and implement small bite sized actionable tips that will help reduce overwhelm starting today.
Kc Rossi 0:27
I wanted to share a quote before we get into our fifth and final tip of the series. And this one comes from Esther Hicks. She says "You cannot struggle to joy, struggle and joy are not on the same channel. You joy, your way to joy, you laugh your way to success. It is through your joy that good things come."
Kc Rossi 0:51
This had a tremendous impact on me when I first heard it, I think it's something that we could all use a bumper sticker of or a really fun graphic t shirt with it on it. So we can be reminded on a daily basis that we cannot struggle our way to joy, that joy is going to have this like begets like effect. The more joyful we are, the more we will attract joy.
Kc Rossi 1:18
Today, I want you to tune into the fifth and final tip. I love it. It is a part of my daily life, it is a non-negotiable for me. And I hope that it is something that you feel really excited about implementing. If you liked this series, I would love it if you could drop some feedback at www.lovethepodcast.com/brilliance it really helps to hear from you. It also helps the podcast. And you can also take a screenshot of the show, and send it to a friend who you think could use help with cultivating joy and also can benefit from these tips on how to reduce overwhelm. I really appreciate it. Enjoy today's tip, and I'll talk to you soon.
Kc Rossi 2:04
Hello, Hello and welcome to day five of our five part mini series all about how to reduce overwhelm starting with today.
Kc Rossi 2:16
I'm KC Rossi, a Mindset and Leadership Coach. I help women entrepreneurs, leaders and CEOs go from people pleasing burned out perfectionist to profitable powerhouses. I focus on helping my clients attain holistic wealth, which really is more about focusing on our physical or emotional, our spiritual, our financial, our connection and our collective wealth. Because each one of those segments makes up the whole. And that's how we are truly going to have a joy filled sustainable life in business. I hope you've enjoyed this series, I wanted to dive in today all about self care. If by chance you've missed one or even all of the days of the mini training, no worries at all, you can head back to your feed, and scroll through to catch the replays or just send me an email at [email protected]. And I will send you the links so you can catch up.
Kc Rossi 3:22
Because our focus is all about not being overwhelmed. So you are exactly where you need to be. You are not behind the eight ball. And there is always tomorrow to catch up at your leisure. So to recap, on day one we really talked about what's the one thing that you can stop doing. And you know, when we talk about overwhelm, that is usually something that is something that we are doing too much of which could be too many things in our day, we could be overthinking, we could over over produce, we could be over delivering. So that is really the category of advice of excessiveness, where we're doing too much of something where we're feeling out of balance, or it could also be a vice of deficiency where we're not doing enough of and we need to add to.
Kc Rossi 4:18
This week, I tried to cover both sides of the coin. And day one we were really looking at reducing or subtracting something. So really being honest with yourself and thinking about what's that one thing that you can stop doing in your day, that will increase your well being. In day two, we also subtracted something we talked about what to put on our don't list or our to don't list. So it's really compiling a list of no and I provided some tips on how to make those faster decisions by becoming very clear of your wildly important goals and what's in alignment to that top priority. because that helps you sift and sort when it comes to what goes on the to don't list.
Kc Rossi 5:07
Day three, we added something we talked about adding boundaries, adding those kind of self guided little bumpers, if you will, so there can be more ease and flow, and that there's actually some safety and joy in positive constrictions. So when we have discipline and framework, both for ourselves and the people in our life, our clients, our family, or friends, there's actually more flow and less overwhelm. And we added gratitude, and really talked about how to increase our happiness quotient, when we are very focused on each and every micro blessing in our life.
Kc Rossi 5:50
We did a little bit of a combination this week of what to subtract, in order to reduce overwhelm, and what to add in order to reduce overwhelm. And one of the things that I totally recommend is not trying to implement everything at once, but just taking the one thing that resonated with you the most and putting it into action, and testing it out for yourself. That's really how you're going to start to get the biggest change in transformation.
Kc Rossi 6:19
Now today, I want to talk about self care. To me, this particular tip has the power to bring you peace in a much more rapid fashion. I love the other four tips that I shared, but they in all honesty, are a part of lifestyle change. And really where you are very aware and perseverance and patience when it comes to seeing true turnaround or true change or transformation.
Kc Rossi 6:51
When we're looking at, stop doing something, now you're talking about habit change. And we know that habit, by definition is what we repeatedly do, that takes a little time to turn around the ship. Some people say it takes 21 days other people take say that it takes 90 days to truly stop doing something or start doing something, it doesn't mean to not embrace one of those other tips when it comes to chunking down when we're talking about such a big subject of overwhelm, because overwhelm keeps us really in a state of stuck, procrastination and high anxiety.
Kc Rossi 7:37
The flip of that is joy, productivity, high performance and being in alignment, which I don't know about you. But that's something that's very interesting to me, and absolutely worth the effort. So when you're looking at the other tips, whether it's your to don't list, putting in boundaries, even doing a practice of gratitude daily, that's going to take some time and consistent effort to really start to experience reduction and overwhelming anxiety.
Kc Rossi 8:07
The cool thing about what we're talking about today is really something that in day one, you can experience a physiological change, a psychological change in a matter of one single practice, which to me, that's massive return on investment. So one of the things that I wanted to share is that when we're under stress, and I don't know about you, but I feel like overwhelm and stress go hand in hand, our body, our physical makeup, actually to protect us goes into that fight or flight mode, which increases our cortisol, which is our stress hormone, and the adrenaline, which really makes us go into that kind of fight reactive mode.
Kc Rossi 8:55
Now, when those two chemicals get released in our system, which is something that we can't control, it's, it's automatic, when we start to go into this stress state. And again, just a side note, stress is whatever the brain perceives is stressed, it could be real, or it could be imaginative. And it could be something as simple as maybe a triggering email in your inbox that really doesn't necessarily constitute this massive stress response or cortisol trigger. But your brain really doesn't know the difference between that and something that like is really putting you in imminent danger. So that's something to really think about when we're talking about stress tolerance and personal perception, because your brain goes through this cascade effect, automatically, not deciphering the difference of the magnitude of that stress situation.
Kc Rossi 9:54
I'm bringing this up because when we talk about overwhelming stress, this is something that we're really starts to damper down our system and actually lowers our ability to perform, contributes to a burnout. And absolutely also contributes to our cognitive thinking. So our prefrontal cortex, where we're really kind of using that logical part of our brain, that all gets damper down or kind of like, washed away, if you will, when we're under stress, and we've got those couple of chemicals kicking off in our system. So sometimes I think people have a different story in their head when it comes to self care. I work with a lot of women and many times self care sounds one selfish to like, they don't have time for it. And three, that's like, Oh, what is that just like a bubble bath? I mean, what's that going to do?
Kc Rossi 10:53
I can absolutely relate to this. Because I know for really many years, I was kind of in that way of thinking as well, because it felt the opposite of productivity. However, now that I understand the brain science and chemistry behind it, it's actually it couldn't be further from the truth that it's just Woo and a waste of time. Because we have seen that stress reduction actually increases our BDNF, which is a brain kind of neuro chemical, if you will, it's a gene that acts as our brain fertilizer. And when we have this brain fertilizer that kicks off this protein reaction to our benefit, it increases our cognitive thinking, it is actually something that has shown that improves our clarity, it crystallizes or improves clarity in our thinking, which then contribute to performance. So it has a direct influence, self care has a direct influence to our performance, and then also how we are feeling overall. And in this context, reduces overwhelm. And so to me, it really needs to be prioritized, once you know the data and the science behind it, I think you're going to have an easier time buying into the true importance of self care.
Kc Rossi 12:23
Now, this particular live stream isn't about all the various ways that you can pamper yourself. And that could be a walk in nature, it could be that bubble bath with your favorite stress reducing essential oil, it could be boundary setting, like we talked about previous and that we then this week, it could be all of those things. But I really don't think that you are lacking on tips and tricks on actually what self care habits could look like. I think it's really just taking that time and committing to prioritizing it for yourself. And so I'm going to give you one tip today that I invite you to practice. And that is really just stillness. It is closing your eyes. It is closing down the inputs. It's turning off all of your notifications and social media beeps and buzzers and really giving yourself the gift of silence and stillness, whether that is closing your eyes or being in darkness or getting in your comfy chair and sitting upright with your spine aligned and being very grounded with your feet on the floor, maybe feeling all four corners of your feet, making that connection with your sits phone and just being just closing your eyes and being without even music.
Kc Rossi 13:46
I remember talking to a peer coach who is a forever learner like me, and I've been able to kind of witness how she goes along in her day, which is with constant stimulation with inputs, whether it's starting with motivational and inspirational information from YouTube or other mentors that she follows when she wakes up at four o'clock for her morning routine, truly, all the way through the day until the evening when she's plugging into maybe a meditation app like headspace in order to wind down now, there is the beauty of maybe having that interest and self actualization. That's the plus side.
Kc Rossi 14:32
But there's also really kind of a vise of excessiveness, which we talked about contributing to any imbalance and that is truly never having any solitude. Always having an input and always really needing to have your brain in that processing piece. You know if we're looking at our brain as a computer, you are giving it stimulation or external inputs that it has to process Access, and it has to kind of like filter it. And maybe compartmentalize. And so it's truly never off.
Kc Rossi 15:08
My invitation to you is true stillness, without any music without any inputs without any apps, but just you, connecting with your soul connecting with the universe, and taking away all external stimuluses, this, my friend is going to give you the biggest bang for your buck. It's something that you are going to experience peace, instantaneously. After that time of stillness and space and quiet, you will start to feel a psychological shift, and a physical relaxation.
Kc Rossi 15:45
I promise you that if you put this in your day, every day, or maybe you commit to five out of seven days, whatever works for you, this isn't about checking the box, it's not about being perfect. It's literally about putting something simple into practice, that you can do on a consistent basis towards that effort or focus of reducing overwhelm, feeling more in alignment, feeling more like yourself, feeling more clear headed. And those other positive ripple effects that you're going to experience are higher performance, better memory, retention, and just overall clear thinking, which again, I don't know about you, but I'm after those three things on a daily basis.
Kc Rossi 16:32
For me, meditation, and stillness is one of those things that's non negotiable. In my life, I've been meditating every day for 30 years. You've probably often heard me say that I don't know who I would be without it, because it is truly a piece of my identity, and a core value of mine. That is something that is a daily practice.
Kc Rossi 16:54
That's what I wanted to share with you today on our fifth day of how to reduce overwhelm starting today. One of the things when I was thinking about today that I wanted to share was a quote from Abraham Hicks that's often stuck with me, when I have fallen into that hustle, grind go, go, go mentality of performance. And what I heard many years ago that had a strong impact on me is that we don't struggle our way to joy, we joy our way to joy. And when I first heard that, it was just like, mind blown, right?
Kc Rossi 17:37
Because that old paradigm of you know, hard work is honest work. And in order to be successful, we have to be in that hustle culture was something that I bought into for two out of the three decades that I've been an entrepreneur. And when I started to embrace this concept of joining my way to joy, it really started to shift and change a lot of my world thinking and personal perspective. So I'm going to leave you with this right here.
Kc Rossi 18:08
Joy is the Ultimate Creator.
Kc Rossi 18:12
This was something that I pulled out of my deck today. And I thought it dovetailed perfectly into this topic. So when you're feeling overwhelmed, you have that infinite source that you can tap into where you truly contain everything in the universe, the full entire macrocosm within your personal human being within your microcosm. This is your temple right here.
Kc Rossi 18:40
You have the power capability and ability at any time. It's free, to close your eyes to choose to reduce inputs and stimulus, and to really tap into that spaciousness of who you are.
Kc Rossi 18:57
This my friend is going to be the number one tip to reduce overwhelm starting today. I hope you enjoyed this series. If you did, let me know in the comments, and I'm looking forward to sharing more with you for now, my friends.
Kc Rossi 19:12
I hope that you have a fulfilling and beautiful weekend and until next time, Breathe Joy.
