Yes, I know. #RevOfKindness is almost over… but I was absorbed with life, these last weeks, and it was kinder to myself to set the challenge aside until I was more ready for it, and tend to what was in front of me.
Now things have settled down into a more peaceful rhythm, and I’ve come back to the challenge, because kindness always matters. I’ll be off-schedule with the challenge proper, but that might actually be a good thing. Spreading the kindness out over a few extra weeks can’t hurt, can it?
I don’t think so.
So, here we go…my Week One post, and an expansion of self-kindness through frenzied times.
Have you ever been here?
You set out to list your goals for the day as you sip your favorite morning beverage – or maybe, you’ve let that beverage get cold three times already, and you can’t even begin to imagine being able to sit down long enough to make a physical list. Yours is whirling around in loose sticky notes in your brain, as though all the things you need to do are leaves being blown around on a blustery day.
I have definitely been there.
When I saw a clip of The Big Bang Theory, I heard a phrase that seemed to sum it up perfectly.
Frenzy Stance.
Okay, so it was a game move – but it fits.
That’s exactly how I feel when I’m overwhelmed. As though I’m in Frenzy Stance. Without knowing the move, it makes me imagine being partially crouched, maybe in Bow Stance, but not steadily. My body is tense rather than relaxed, my eyes shifting from side to side as though all the things I haven’t gotten to are going to breed, grow sharp fangs, and chew me up….
Needless to say, that feeling really doesn’t help me to be kind – not to myself, and not to anyone else, either. It’s a feeling that is more likely to lead to panic, impatience, snappiness, or worse.
Frenzy Stance doesn’t make me very nice to live with – not for my family, or for me.
I mentioned in my previous post that I’m attempting to be kinder to myself, especially where overwhelm is concerned.
A big part of that kindness is considering how Frenzy Stance happens, how it becomes overwhelming, I need to know those things in order to find the best ways of relieving it, short-circuiting it before it takes me over – or, better yet, how to prevent it in the first place.
That’s something I’m going to be exploring through this week – getting up close and personal with Frenzy Stance, figuring it out – and, maybe, beginning to form some strategies to deal with it. There are some things I know calm me – tai chi, meditation, long walks, cleaning or organizing a personal space, going for a swim, hanging out with good friends, hot coffee, a hot shower, journaling, and writing.
The thing is, it can be harder to remember those techniques when I’m already stressed…
And that’s what this week is going to be about for me – coming up with enough understanding of the first inklings of Frenzy Stance’s onset to develop a strategy to defuse it before it gets a foothold on my soul….
Do you have a Frenzy Stance?
Have you learned how to defuse it?
How did you manage that?
Or are you like me, looking for ways to get a handle on your overwhelm before you get to Frenzy Stance?
Either way, you can share in the comments below!
This post is my Week One Self-Love Kindness Challenge entry – belated and well-intentioned. Click the icon above, or the link, to visit Week One’s reflection post, and visit other participants.
This is also part of Colleen Chesebro’s Mindful Monday. Click the icon or the link to visit more Mindful Monday posts.
