Being a single parent, I move into overwhelm when I have too much on my plate. Trying to make sure that everything gets done, often doesn’t leave a lot of down time to take care of me. Unfortunately, when I am overwhelmed, my daughter, joins right in. She can’t keep her equalibrium when I am drowning. Those are the times when we both go after each other, nagging and criticizing.
Bringing awareness to these times, is the first step. Even though I can’t always shift the state, I can at least acknowledge it.
Example:
We are going on a raft trip this week, so I am totally overwhelmed, trying to pack all the gear and see clients before leaving town. Of course, the more overwhelm I feel, my energy field is anything but welcoming. So, instead of helping, my daughter heads out the door to play with friends. I feel even more burdened and by the time she comes in I am frustrated and ready to go after her. As we are sitting at the computer, trying to download my camera, I get frustrated and start making some noise. My sweet girl is sitting there next to me and she says, “Mama, take a deep breath. You can breathe through it.” This alone, brings a smile to my face and I start breathing. She looks at me and says, “I think I’ll breathe with you.” So here we are, sitting together breathing and smiling at each other. Suddenly, my overwhelm is managable and my relationship with my daughter is at the forefront! We giggled our way to bed leaving all the gear for another day.
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