A Guide to Managing Overwhelm During Busy Fun Times
Lessons from an Extra-Special Whirlwind Autumn
Sometimes life gets busy because you are getting what you want. You have an incredible line-up of trips with people you love, your social calendar is bursting, and you are excited about what you are creating for work.
This sort of busy is different from those seasons of life where your responsibilities are taking up a lot of space or suddenly something went wrong (e.g., your house floods, the whole family gets the flu, a loved one passes away and you suddenly are managing an estate). “Fun busy” feels lighter, expansive, and joyous.
Still, when life gets fun busy, it is natural to still feel overwhelmed or nervous about the amount of energy needed from you. Even though you chose it and are so grateful for what is happening in your life, it can still feel intense. You have less time to manage the responsibilities in your life, and it can be easy to let your to-do list or the fear of dropping the ball distract you from the incredible things going on in your life.
I found myself in this position over the last six weeks. I put together a list of what helped me manage the busyness so I could continue to enjoy the special opportunity I was given.
It started with a 6-hour solo spontaneous roadtrip to Dallas to see Dua Lipa. The next day, I flew to Europe to follow around one of my favorite musicians, Billy Strings, and see him in concert four times in Oslo, Copenhagen, and Amsterdam.
I got back from Europe Friday night, and spent the next two days with 100,000 other music lovers at Austin City Limits, seeing Sabrina Carpenter, the Killers, and Zed’s Dead, among many others. The next day, I got knocked out by a bad flu and spent the next 10 days recovering. As soon as I was better, I shot over to Milwaukee to see three Widespread Panic concerts. Dropped back into Austin for a few days and hosted family, got sick again, and then went up to Montana for a friend’s wedding. I had a few days at home, then the next weekend, drove out to the beach and camped with friends.
That next week, I launched my new podcast, The Artist Rendezvous, and that Friday, hosted my first event at an incredible local music venue, Antone’s Jazz Club. In between weekend’s traveling, I saw my regular weekly and biweekly clients, worked on a new environmental law project, and prepared the podcast
The last two months have been incredible. I have met dozens of new friends, had more fun than I could imagine, experienced powerful manifestations come true, and felt expanded in every sense. It has been an absolute dream!
At the same time, it has been overwhelming at times to have so much on my plate, even though it is mostly fun things that I chose. I cannot simply “pause” my life for 6 weeks to go play, and while I do have a tremendous amount of flexibility with work, I still have professional and personal responsibilities to manage. I have also gotten sick three separate times, a sign that this has been hard on me physically, even though it has been nourishing for my spirit.
It is a gift and a privilege when life gives us so many amazing opportunities at once. I knew that this much travel and social commitments would be outside of my comfort zone, but I felt a full body yes to each event. I knew I was meant to do this and that it would be a magical time. I also know my body is sensitive and needs a lot of support, and that this would be an opportunity to practice supporting myself even when there were a lot of demands on my energy.
These are the mantras, reminders, and lessons that helped me enjoy this time:
“Everything important will always get done. If it doesn’t get done, it is probably not very important.”
I trust myself to follow through on the most important things in my life. I know I can’t do everything I would like to do during this season at the level I want to do it at (e.g, travel, cleaning, volunteering, content creation, exercise, friends, spiritual practice, sleep, laundry, select cute outfits, etc.) But I know that I will always make time for the things that are most important. I will not miss a client session or leave myself with no clean underwear or forget to upload my podcast before launch day.
Because I know this, I don’t have to worry about things I don’t have time to do. If I didn’t get to it, it is probably not that important, and therefore, doesn’t deserve my stress.
Have grace in letting routines fall to the wayside. This experience is literally the point of all these routines anyway.
I have routines that are important for my all around well-being, my work, and how I want to show up in life. For example, I like to exercise at my gym 3-5 times a week, sit in meditation and prayer at my altar several times a week, buy fresh, organic groceries weekly from local producers, and put away my laundry within 2 days of doing it. I rely on these practices to feel grounded, organized, and clear, so it can feel a bit destabilizing when I don’t have them for long periods of time.
Every routine I had was disrupted these last two months. I had a mountain of laundry waiting for me for a week. I went to my gym twice for all of October, though I would sneak in runs, long walks, or a quick set of weights in my garage. I continued to meditate, as that is absolutely necessary for my client work, but usually not at my altar.
Once I set expectations for myself, I feel like I am doing something wrong if I am not meeting them consistently. However, the point of these routines is to help me engage deeply in my life and expand my capacity to experience what life has in store for me. Though I enjoy them, if maintaining them perfectly would cause me prolonged stress, I am missing the point. The priority is enjoying life, not completing the practices.
At the same time, this isn’t a free-for-all. Don’t let things go so much that you stop being able to enjoy yourself.
I did not throw all of my practices out the window. I went to a gym in Amsterdam and did a conditioning workout, went grocery shopping in Milwaukee so I could cook most of my own meals, and brought tea with me to Montana so I could sit in ceremony. If I ignored my physical or energetic needs for six weeks (or even 3 days!), I would feel disconnected, sick, and overwhelmed. I needed to adapt my practices to the lifestyle of the season, without guilt or shame for being more lax, not abandon them altogether.
Trust the divine purpose of each step.
As you are making commitments in your life, always check in first to see if you actually want to commit, and if your body has the capacity to handle it. If it feels right, exciting, and clear, there is a reason for it. Otherwise, you would feel hesitant, uneasy, or somewhat disinterested.
I am tuned into my body’s “yes” and “no’s.” I know if I have an emphatic yes to an experience, then it will be meaningful and important in my life. I also know that if I am a maybe or a no, to listen to that. I was such a “yes” to everything I committed to that I really trusted that it was correct for me. There were things that I needed to put on pause that made me nervous, like creating content for my business, Wild River, after finally finding momentum. I knew I wouldn’t be guided to something that would be detrimental, so I trusted in the flow, even though it felt counter-intuitive. I can already see how everything worked out exactly like it needed to, and how the sacrifices I needed to make were so small in comparison to what I received.
Let it be as easy as possible.
How can you simplify? Ask for help? Make it easy?
One of the bigger projects I was trying to finish before I left for Europe was creating several weeks of content for The Artist Rendezvous’s Instagram and TikTok. I was trying to build an audience so there would be people to listen to the podcast when it launched. The videos I had in mind would require a script, intentional filming, and editing, which is time consuming. I did not get through very much before I left and I was disappointed with myself and nervous that it would impair the launch.
When in Europe on a walk, I decided to take a few videos off the cuff when I was walking and threw them up on TikTok. I knew they wouldn’t be what I imagined, but I figured done was better than perfect in this case. Those two videos increased by 50-75%, and still are bringing in engagement and new followers six weeks later. I didn’t edit them, write anything down, or think about it strategically at all. I simply took out my phone and created the easiest, most authentic video I could at that moment. And it achieved the same result I had hoped for with the content plan. I did the same thing while in Milwaukee a few weeks later, with the same outcome.
I still think creating thoughtful content is valuable, and plan to turn my attention to that in the coming weeks. However, if I made time to do that then, I would have definitely taken away from my trip. Sometimes, the easiest way is the best way.
If you are lucky enough to be busy doing what you love with people you love, you are truly one of the most fortunate people on the planet. Don’t fall into the trap of missing out on the present moment because of the stress of taking on more than you are used to. Your life is meant for joy.