Picture a helicopter ready for take off, Amber, with the rotors spinning at full speed, ready to lift off into the blue sky. But it stays grounded. It spins and spins, at full speed. It’s wasting fuel, it’s behind schedule, but it’s stuck.

When your brain is overwhelmed, it’s just like that helicopter. A million thoughts spinning round and round. Wasting fuel and going nowhere.

But, good news! Here’s a quick trick for handling that overwhelmed, spinning, anxious feeling.

Press pause on your brain.

Take a deep breath. Tell your brain you are pressing pause. Get out a piece of paper and pen. Write down the top 3 things that are overwhelming you. Look at those items and figure out one small thing you can do to take action on each.

For example, my "Pause" list from last week looked like this:

My kitchen is a disaster
I need to write an article on how to pause the brain (oh the irony!)
I have to fill out tons of paperwork for my son’s doctor appointment, which is emotionally taxing.

And these were the actions I took:

Removed the kitchen mess from my list. Although I do not like having a messy kitchen (at all!), I can still work in my office. The kitchen didn't have to be cleaned in that exact moment.
Opened the voice recorder app on my phone and talked for 3 minutes about how I was feeling in that overwhelmed moment, so that I could remember and share it with you.
Printed the doctor’s paperwork and put it on my desk, and then wrote “fill out paperwork” on my calendar from 7 to 8 pm that evening.

I felt immediately better. I knew exactly what to do. You can too.

PS: Pressing pause is the first step in my "90 Days to Calm" program. It’s a 1-on-1 coaching program where I help you take life from chaos to calm. If you’d like to try a free session and hear more about it, schedule time with me! You can start feeling better now.

Failure to Launch?