"I’m so screwed if this doesn’t work out."
Every morning, I check in on my thinking.
Our brains are always offering thoughts, many of them untrue. I’ve learned to just write them down, without judgement or questioning why I’m thinking them. Here are some of the gems my brain has offered in the past couple of weeks:
🖊️ I need to accomplish so much today.
🖊️ I’m so screwed if this doesn’t work out.
🖊️ I have no support.
🖊️ My house is always such a mess.
🖊️ I’m just not consistent.
Looking back on these I can even kind of chuckle. Not a single one is true.
The reason why I do this morning “thought inventory” is so I can release the ones that aren’t true or helpful.
Imagine the day I would have if the overarching headline was “I’m so screwed if this doesn’t work out”. I would feel frantic and panicked and probably lose any ability to solve a problem because I’m too upset to think clearly.
A great trick I use is to ask yourself if the opposite thought could be true. “How could it be true that I’ll be just fine if this doesn’t work out?”
Ponder that question, and come up with some evidence to support that.
🖊️ I’ve solved a million problems before now, and I can solve another one if this doesn’t work out.
🖊️ Things always tend to work out.
🖊️ I trust myself to solve this.
Learning the skill of metacognition (thinking about what you’re thinking) allows you to notice what you’re thinking and adjusting that thinking to better serve you and your day. It’s my most powerful superpower, and it can be yours too.
HOT OFF THE PRESS
“The present is where you can find calm and connection.”
I was in my kitchen, cooking dinner, kids talking to me… and I was barely there. Instead, I was replaying an earlier conversation and stressing about everything I had to do later.
So nothing was actually wrong—but I felt overwhelmed anyway.
Overwhelm isn’t really about having too much to do. It’s about trying to live in three timelines at once.
The past pulls you into regret.
The future pulls you into anxiety.
And both of them quietly steal the only place calm actually exists: the present.
This episode gives you a simple mental reset to pull you out of your head and back into the moment—so you can feel calm, focused, and connected again.
Check out episode 236 here: https://tinyurl.com/OWWPod.
“No can be a complete sentence on its own.”
“What if they think I’m rude?”
“What if I disappoint them?”
“What if they stop liking me?”
This might sound radical to you (it did to me at first!), but saying no isn’t rude or unkind - it’s just honest.
Saying no can make us feel guilty, like we’re doing something wrong. But every polite, people-pleasing yes that goes against what you actually want quietly builds resentment, exhaustion, and burnout.
You might have been taught to always say yes, but once you realize that no is a skill—not a personality trait—everything shifts.
If your calendar is overbooked and your mind is overwhelmed, it’s time to learn how to say no.
Listen to episode 237 here: https://tinyurl.com/OWWPod!
PS Our podcast sponsor for this month is Inspired Wellness, a woman-owned company based in St. Louis where I get my supplements. I subscribe to the best seller bundle, which is creatine and collagen that arrives on my front porch once a month. I love the results I’ve gotten! You can get 15% off subscriptions here.
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