it happens. i get anxious, i get overwhelmed, I may even start to feel burnt out.

when these feelings creep up, I do six things. immediately.

six things to help me reset and recharge, but also six things that help me tune in to myself to see what I need.

1) I reduce the phone noise

this is a huge one for me. I always have my notifications turned off for apps (like instagram and email), but I take it a step further and I set my phone on “do not disturb” mode for the majority of the day for however long I need - but I allow all calls to come through so that anything that’s an emergency will reach me. (and I allow texts from KK’s preschool, Brett, and one of my sisters since they generally reach out on a need-to-know basis as well.)
when I’m feeling overwhelmed, I also take a social media break. also for however long I need.
having a phone with the world at our fingertips can be great, but it can also be so very overwhelming and draining. so reducing that noise has a big impact for me.

2) I unsubscribe from emails.

random, but I swear by it. when I’m feeling anxious or overwhelmed, I tackle my emails with a relentless fury. similar to the above phone noise, my emails can be such distracting, overwhelming noise as well. I always have my email notifications turned off on my phone, but I take it a step further and I unsubscribe to anything not serving me well, anything adding to the overwhelm.
I may also do a good email purge and see if I need to add or delete any email folders.
at this point, I start to feel a little better.

3) I declutter

a lot of times when I’m feeling overwhelmed, it’s because my home is overwhelming me. and I take that as a big sign that we need to clear out anything not serving us well anymore.
I go through our house and ask myself, “do we love this item or find it helpful? or could it be of better use to someone else?”
and, I’m a pretty tidy person, but I’m human and things still accumulate. just this past week, I was feeling overwhelmed and burnt out, so I took a quick inventory of the house, and came up with five trash bags of stuff that needed to go. and that new blank space in the closets breathed life into me - I didn’t realize how much that stuff was weighing on my mind.
because as a manager of the household, the physical things in our home can be helpful and comforting, or they can be stifling and distracting. a good declutter helps.
here’s my easy routine that really helps me declutter - doing this when I feel anxious or overwhelmed really helps me
here’s 10 easy household systems I can’t live without - like the donation bin that lives in our hall closet. having a permanent donation bin in our home really helps me - I can easily add things to the bin as I notice we’re ready to let them go. bliss.

4) I lean hard into morning and evening routines

one of the best things I ever did for my naturally-anxious self was create a morning routine and an evening routine. and I made them based on what I need every single day to feel my best, and what I want to prioritize every single day to bring me contentment and calm. like, I need a made bed and a clean kitchen counter and a smoothie - I just do - so those are factored into my routines.
so not only do these routines make sure things that I value are prioritized every single day, these routines really ground me. as a mom of two littles, there’s so much in my day-to-day I cannot control. but starting and ending my days the exact same way is so comforting.
and sometimes I skip a thing or two on my list of routines because I just do what I need that day, but in times of anxiety and overwhelm, I make sure I do every single thing on my list of morning/evening routines. because I need that structure and consistency, and because I know these are the things I need to feel my best. so I lean into them hard and feel myself slowly recharge.

5) I do a good brain dump

when I’m anxious, overwhelmed, or burnt out, my mind is spinning. to help slow that down - and to help sort through the things that are actual vs. fictional and necessary vs. optional, I bust out this favorite list of mine that I have sworn by for years, and I do a good brain dump. without editing or worrying about any sort of rules of the English language, I transfer anything in my brain onto this list - questions, ideas, concerns, tasks, deadlines, whatever. and I repeat as needed for as long as I need over the coming hours/days/weeks.
this brain dump helps me in two ways: 1) it puts everything in tangible form to figure out what I need. and 2) it helps me see things I can postpone, outsource, or delete altogether.
like, this past week, after I made this brain dump, I was able to clearly see what I could ask from Brett, what I could postpone until KK starts preschool in the fall, what I could automate, what I could reduce, what I could tweak, what I could prioritize as most important, and what I could get rid of completely. like, I saw one thing was clearly fixed if I just set a daily 3pm alarm on my phone. I felt like I had gone to a spa.
- here’s five lists that I swear by
- here’s our fridge whiteboard system aka how I ask Brett for help

6) and I ask myself five questions

I have five things that - when I’m doing them consistently - I feel most calm and content. so when I’m feeling anxious, overwhelmed, or burnt out, I make sure to do those five things with a ferocious dedication. sounds pretty simple, but I’m human and sometimes I get bogged down in the day-to-day and let these five things go by the wayside. and that’s exactly when the anxiety, overwhelm, and burn-out creep up.
and that’s when I ask myself to check-in: “did I prioritize quiet movement? did I swim/walk today? did I read today? did I drink enough water today? did I take my vitamins today? did I do my morning/evening routines today?”
- here’s a quick reel on how prioritizing quiet movement several times a week changed my life
- here’s what I take for vitamins.
- here’s the 3 tricks I do every morning to drink 80-120oz of water a day.
- here’s how I’m falling back in love with reading.
- here’s what I bring to the pool to swim laps.
- here’s my morning and evening routines