S10E28: 3 things to do when youre OVERWELMED.

0:00 My beautiful survivors, how are you? This is Karina, the creator behind Stroke Surviving. The Odds of the podcast. This space is far beyond survival after stroke. Its mission is to reclaim your life and reclaim your identity after stroke. Remember guys, that if I can do it, so can you. As for me, I suffered a stroke in 1999.

0:25 Brainstem dissection, to be exact. I was 25 years old. It led me to coma Interlochen syndrome. But as you can see, I'm here living my best life and you guys are a very big part of it. So I'm very grateful. Grab a pen and paper because today is going to be another great episode. Guys, before we start, I have a little something to tell you.

0:50 Today's episode is brought to you by Cafe de Neste here in Montreal. You might be wondering. Yeah, but Karina, why is a cafe sponsoring you? Very easy. They believe in the mission, They believe in the cause, and they want to help. You know, Cafe de Nessie is a place where you can actually have their specialty Big Mac pizza.

1:15 Their submarines are made with pizza dough bread, which is amazing. Of course, they have cappuccino Americano and all the coffees under the moon, but my favorite day of the week is Fridays. Why? Because they have karaoke. Yes. So karaoke night is espresso martini night. Guys, if you're in Montreal and you want to have a good time, you want to eat some good food, you know what?

1:42 Come to Cafe. Then I see in pizza we crust. Today's episode, I'm going to be talking about three things that you can do when you feel that you've had enough. Have you ever found yourself so stressed out and overwhelmed that you are borderline crying and you are saying, OK, that's enough? Today I can't do anymore.

2:05 I'm kaput. I have no more energy, no more juice. Has that ever happened to you? I'm not talking about being fed up of life. I'm just saying today is enough. Do you know that Even good stress, did you know that even good stress can be draining? Even good things can be draining. Are you capable of recognizing the signs when you feel like that? Sometimes, I'll be honest, I don't even. I just want to keep on going and going like the Energizer Bunny, and I just seem like I'm screwing up even more. I snap, I drag my left foot, I'm so dizzy above into walls. Does that happen to you?

2:56 And why do we keep on going? Because we want to prove to the outside world that we can do it. We want to prove that we have tons of energy. But the reality is we are stroke survivors and we can only do what we can do, and we can only do what our bodies are going to allow us to. In a previous episode, I have mentioned how it's important not to tie your worth to your productivity.

3:25 That means that not because you are not capable right now to do what you used to means that you are worthless because that is not the case. You need to right now acknowledge that you are a stroke survivor and you're doing the very best you can and you're doing everything just slower. You are not done, my friend. In the next segment, we are going to get in the meat and potatoes of today's episode, and I'm going to share three things you can do to recharge.

4:01 When you've had enough, you guys ready, grab your pen and paper. So I think it's important that you learn to shift from pushing, pushing, pushing, pushing to allowing yourself as a stroke survivor, allow your body to heal, not just physically, but mentally because of that drain that we talked about before.

4:29 And on a personal note, guys, I can honestly say that that is exactly how burnouts are made by pushing, pushing, pushing. OK, so I had to learn this the hard way. Stroke recovery is really a process, guys. And what I'm doing here, what I'm hoping that I'm doing here in the podcast is voicing what needs to be done to really heal and make yourself better. So instead of instead of being so frustrated and whatnot, give yourself permission to take a break or to stop completely. But the keyword here is without guilt. Guilt is a silent killer, guys.

5:20 You don't want that. So you are not cutting, you are not stopping. You are not giving up. You are being very intentional on the way. You want to recover. You guys want to laugh. Me and my boyfriend when whether we're working in the garden or cooking or doing laundry and cleaning the house, at one point I'll look at him laughing and I'll say OK, it's my post Santa Cat I need a break and during that break I will go hide myself in the bathroom or in the bedroom and really take 5 to 10 deep breaths and I try to clear my head because my head is spinning round and round and round.

6:09 Another thing you can do is sitting in silence. What's the key thing here is to either you close your phone, you mute your phone, or you close your notifications. You want to be in silence for at least 15 minutes. Believe it or not. Some people tell me. Yeah, but Karine, I can't do it. My head starts being so loud.

6:38 I get it. Trust me. Again, it's a process. You are going to learn that you actually love silence and your body is going to be craving it because it tells your nervous system that you are safe. There's not. There's no need to have all this brouhaha and all this noise. Being paused and resting is safe and that's when your energy level really, really builds.

7:12 One important thing to have when you're getting ready to have your quiet moment, it's important to communicate to the people around you, whether it's being a spouse or people in the office that you need. You need X amount of time to not be disturbed. Anybody that loves you is going to understand thing #2 that you can be doing well.

7:39 It's called do a minimum reset. What does it mean? It means to forget everything that needs to be done right now and focusing on one small thing that is going to make you feel human again. Step away from your desk. Go for a walk. If you're at home, go walk the dog. Go take out the garbage, sit on the balcony. Preferably don't do nothing.

8:07 But if it makes you feel human again, take out the garbage. Drink a glass of water quietly over the sink. You could step outside. You could do some gentle stretches between sending emails. So the goal here is not to be productive. It's not to do something. It's not to add to your To Do List, but it is to regulate your nervous system and make it come back online being normal. And last but not least, when you're exhausted but you really want to keep going and you want to get that thing done, maybe try to remind yourself why that matters so much to you. I'll give you an example.

8:54 Say I'm pushing, pushing, pushing. I want to wash my floors. I want to change the covers on the couch. I want to wash the sheets. You never mind doing the dishes and whatnot, but those are the big things that I want to do. I have to ask myself, why do I want to do that? Absolutely. Well, then I start thinking, well, tonight when I'm going to sit down on the couch and watch Netflix, I want everything to smell good. And when I go to bed, I want to sleep in nice crisp sheets. So by finding your why you insist on continuing, it actually energizes you to get results because you know that it's going to make you happy at the end. My beautiful survivors.

9:46 This is what I have for you guys today. I hope you enjoyed, I hope you took notes. Please tell me, leave me a comment. What do you like to do around the house? Is it vacuuming? Is it emptying the dishwasher? Is it raking the leaves outside? Tell me in my comments what you like to do around the house. Make sure you like follow on any audio podcast that you are listening.

10:14 Spotify, Apple iTunes and Google Podcast. You know that on Fridays I have guests that are amazing and I am on YouTube. Yes, I'm going to be putting the link in my description. Make sure when you go on YouTube, you hit that bell and you subscribe. Very important because otherwise YouTube won't let me do lives on it. Can you believe it?

10:41 I need like 50 subscribers. There's regulations everywhere. Anyhow, that being said, remember how much I love you, how much I care for you, and if I can do anything or dedicate an episode to you, I'm your girl. Again, make sure you comment and let me know what I can do for you. Otherwise, I love you. Bye.