How to stop spinning when your world is turned upside down

First things first, I just want to say thank you.

I was overwhelmed by all the kind messages and emails and prayers and words of support last week as we waited for Hurricane Milton to arrive.

And I’m so grateful to be able to say that my family and I are fine. We were not in the direct path of the storm, and aside from lots of debris around our property, we had no major damage.

Many other people we know were not so lucky, which means I alternate from feeling relief that we’re okay and guilt that we got off so easy.

And after the storm had passed, I found myself completely drained. It was like all the stress and anxiety and emotion finally caught up with me, and I had absolutely nothing left.

Has that ever happened to you?

It’s that moment when everything seems to be going along just fine and then BAM! Before you even know what hits you, your whole life gets turned upside down. There’s no time to prepare, you just have to try to find your bearings so you no longer feel like you’re spinning.

That’s exactly how I felt this week.

Maybe you did too.

But fortunately (or maybe unfortunately), it’s not the first time I’ve felt that way.

And the benefit of being older and wiser is that I now know what steps to take to help get myself back on track during moments like these. If you too have had one of those days—or one of those weeks—these steps might just help you as well:

• GET OUTSIDE. This might sound crazy, but it actually works. I don’t know if it’s the fresh air or the extra vitamin D, but there have been countless studies touting the many health and psychological benefits of just getting outside and in nature. So take a walk, go to the park, or just sit in your own backyard. But get outside.

• SLEEP. Along those same lines, there is nothing that will help change your perspective and turn what feels like an insurmountable challenge into a fixable one, like a good night’s sleep. Do yourself a favor and for the next week, give yourself permission to go to bed early and wake up late every day. It’s amazing what a little extra sleep can do.

• BREATHE. Research has shown that we tend to breathe more shallowly when we are stressed, which only compounds our feeling of anxiety. But believe it or not, taking a few minutes to mindfully breathe deeply has been shown to instantly lower stress. So try it—breathe in through your nose for a count of 4, hold it for 2, and then breathe out slowly through your mouth for another count of 4. Do this 10 times and you’ll be amazed how much better you feel.

• DO A BRAIN DUMP. If your mind is racing with all the things you have on your plate right now, the best thing you can do is get those things out of your head and onto a piece of paper. Set the timer for 10 minutes and quickly jot down every obligation or to-do item that comes to mind. 

• PRIORITIZE. Once you’ve got all the to-dos out of your head, it is time to analyze and prioritize. When things are all in your head, the less important things tend to take up just as much space and mental energy as the critical things, causing you to feel overwhelmed. But when you can get them into a place you can see them, like a piece of paper, it is a whole lot easier to separate the most important tasks from the ones that can be put off until later. Take the time to rank each item in order of importance, then only focus on the most important item, followed by the next most important item, and so on. 

• JUST DO ONE THING. If, after doing your brain dump and prioritizing your to-do list, you’re still feeling paralyzed or overwhelmed, tell yourself you only have to do ONE thing and then you can rest or watch TV or do whatever else you want. Give yourself permission to move slowly, and just focus on one thing at a time.

• GIVE GRACE. This goes for yourself and for anyone around you who might also be struggling in their own way. You can’t do it all. Neither can anyone else. Mistakes happen. Life is not a sprint, it is a marathon, and your persistence will pay off. Keep moving forward, even if it means doing just a little at a time, and don’t let yourself fixate on the things that have gone wrong. Instead go over all the things that went right. Tomorrow is another day.

Miranda Kerr once noted that “we all have bad days, but one thing is true; no cloud is so dark that the sun won’t eventually shine through.” Along those same lines, someone else once said “just because today was a terrible day doesn’t mean tomorrow won’t be the best day of your life. You just gotta get there.”

In other words? No bad day—or hard season—lasts forever.

And so, my challenge for you this week, if you too have struggled with setbacks and frustrations or a world that feels like it’s been turned upside down, is to do what you can now to at least set yourself up for future success. Get outside. Sleep. Regroup. And give yourself lots of grace. 

Live with purpose, friend, and have a joy-filled week.

xoxo, Ruth

This week’s podcast episode…

What’s cooking in my kitchen…

Here’s the recipe I shared this past week:

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