It’s the start of back to school and routine for many coming off of summer vacation, but the past 18 months have seen us experience life at a very different pace. Maybe summer was relaxing and a nice change of pace, but maybe it was just added stress from a seemingly endless lack of structure. Regardless of what your reality is as we shift into September, I think this week’s subject will be helpful.

In my last blog I wrote about overwhelm and I shared about how extended periods of unresolved overwhelm and stress can lead to burnout. The Canadian Centre for Addiction and Mental Health says burnout is a state of emotional, physical and mental exhaustion caused by excessive and prolonged stress.

Overwhelm is one of the most common issues my clients identify when we start working together and while I would love to say that once you get all the strategies in place, you will NEVER FEEL OVERWHELMED AGAIN! I can’t.

My magic doesn’t run as deep as genie levels, but becoming aware and implementing strategies are helpful in reducing the amount of time spent in overwhelm overall.

Disappointment is a normal part of life and our first experiences of it typically occur with our parents in some form or another, but for some, the consistency of disappointment becomes part of the core experience meaning that the disappointment and hurt is so consistent and painful, a core belief that we will always be disappointed and hurt is sown and rooted. Being disappointed and hurt becomes the truth, how life is, at least for the person in that situation.

I recently wrote a blog about understanding anger and I find that for myself, after having experienced a bout of anger, I shift into what I’ve dubbed a “rage hangover” which leaves me depleted, tired and, essentially, in a deep feeling of sadness.

Sadness is also often a result of another feeling, such as anger, stress, guilt, grief, anxiety or hopelessness. Sometimes, the other feeling may be so strong that you don’t realize that beneath it all, what you really are is sad. Gottman’s Feeling Wheel is a great resource to help name your feelings.

Today is my birthday and I was originally planning a whole week dedicated to the emotion of sadness, but this past week’s posts about anger have resonated so much with many folks, that I’m going to extend it for another week and push the next emotion of sadness out to the beginning of August.

It might seem strange to share a blog about sadness on my birthday, and my reasoning is that I often feel sad in the lead-up to the celebration of my birth. 

I wasn’t always like this!