Motivation Monday: Get Your Head Out of Your A$$ (aka Dealing with Overwhelm)

Sage advice from a salty Sea Captan.

Have you ever had a time when you had so many tasks, so many things coming at you, that it became paralyzing? Like getting out of your own way to get started just wasn’t happening?

Storytime. Let me tell you about how my Cousin Jeff helped me climb my way out.

After the hurricane hit DSC Osprey, my brain went into full lockdown. There was so much to do, down there and up here in Nashua too. I woke up one morning and couldn’t get my day started. Couldn’t get moving. Couldn’t figure out where to even begin.

And I hated that feeling because most mornings, I wake up knowing exactly what I want to do and where to start. And I’m excited about it. That morning was the opposite. No excitement about anything. Only dread and overwhelm.

So I texted my cousin Jeff: “I can’t get my head out of my a$$.“

He called me instantly.

Enter Cousin Jeff

Jeff and I didn’t grow up together the way most cousins do, because he’s about 15 years older than me. But when I opened DSC Osprey, Florida put us back in the same orbit, and he’s become one of the most valuable mentors I’ve ever had. Jeff is a successful businessman with companies in Florida, the UK, China, and Africa. But he didn’t start with anything more than pure grit, hustle and curiosity.

Jeff grew up in Downeast, Maine, building boats with his father in a tiny coastal town. He built his own fishing boat and captained her for years before life took him on a wilder ride. Even though he’s a big shot doing business all over the world, he still sounds like the salty downeast fisherman he is.

His voice another reason I love talking to Jeff. He sounds like my parents and my grandparents. There’s something comforting about picking up the phone and hearing the voice of the family I grew up with.

Underneath that salty captain exterior is a man who knows that mindset is everything.

When Jeff called me that morning, with his signature Maine drawl, he helped me get unstuck:

Nobody’s gonna come save you. You’ve got to save you. You’ve got to get going. You’ve just got to start. Start with one thing, then do another. Pretty soon you’ll get some momentum.

Don’t wait until you feel ready. START. Chip. Chip. Chip.

Jeff was telling me that action drives mood. That’s what got me moving. And he reminded of something Jeff and I love talking about together: mindset is everything. Most of us get tripped up because when we look at the path in front of us, all we can see are the obstacles. The mess. The list. What’s in the way and it can freeze us.

The trick is to look at the same path and focus on what’s good.

I love this quote from Marcus Aurelius: “The obstacle is the way.” Overcoming what’s in front of us IS the journey. It’s not a detour from the good life. It IS the good life. (Side note: Meditations by Marcus Aurelius, great read)

And that reminded me that I don’t have to wait for the overwhelm to lift before I feel joy. I can be joyful WHILE I’m chipping away. I can find gratitude in the middle of the mess.

Because in the big picture, the things that feel so heavy today won’t matter. What’ll matter is the joy and the gratitude I found in each day along the way.

full circle

Jeff and I often meet up for breakfast when I’m down in Florida. Last week, he was telling me about a project he had to start over on, from scratch. The thought of it was overwhelming and he couldn’t get going. My salty sea captain cuz, who’s built businesses on four continents, couldn’t get his own head out of his a$$.

It was so fun because, I got to remind him of what he’d told me.

None of us are immune. Not salty old Cousin Jeff who’s built businesses around the world, or me or you.

Why I’m telling you this on a Monday

If you’re reading this, you might be exactly where I was after the hurricane. You might be that woman I talk about all the time. The one standing in her kitchen with her kid’s soccer schedule in one hand and her mom’s medication list in the other, wondering when she stopped being a person and started being a to-do list.

You might be thinking about walking into our gym for the first time, and every excuse in your head is a wall you can’t climb over. What if I can’t keep up. What if my back hurts. What if everyone stares. What if I fail. Again.

Consider this your permission slip.

You don’t have to figure it all out. You don’t have to feel ready. You don’t have to un-freeze before you move. It’s the moving that unfreezes you.

Action drives mood.

You want to feel less overwhelmed? Take one action. Send the email. Book the intro session. Walk into the gym. Put on the sneakers.

Not tomorrow, when things calm down. (They won’t.) Not when you feel like it. (You won’t.)

Now. Small. Ugly and Imperfect. NOW.

You’d be amazed what starts to move when you do.

Now, repectfully, go get your head out of your a$$, chip away at something today, and find something to be grateful for while you’re doing it.

P.S. If “walk into the gym” is the one action you take this week, we’re ready for you. Injuries, limitations, fears and all. That’s exactly what we’re built for.