Episode 73: Stop Explaining Yourself and Kick Overwhelm to the Curb

It’s become a phenomenon, have you noticed?

“I’m so busy, I can’t even breathe.”

“I don’t even know which project I should do next, there’s so much going on.”

“I’m so sorry I can’t make that appointment. My dog just threw up. My kids are going crazy, work is insane, and, you know. It’s just a lot.”

Holy cannoli you guys. I feel like I’ve had this conversation with so many women over the last few weeks. The women in my Sprints, my 1:1 clients, friends, family … you name it.

So I have a few ideas for us to stop this from happening.

This habit that so many of us have that requires us to explain absolutely everything we do is … well, it’s bananas.

It keeps us in this weird childlike state where it feels like we’re asking permission to live our own lives.

In this episode, I ask you to think through your last week and see where you’ve given explanations for small things.

Small things like why you’re leaving the house. Why you decided to put on makeup today. Why you’re wearing jeans instead of yoga pants. Or why your car is dirty.

I mean, I’ve even seen women explain why their nails aren’t painted.

You guys. What in the world are we doing?

All through this next week I’d like you to practice not explaining things to other people.

What would happen if you simply said, “I’ll be back in 10 minutes”?

What if you didn’t even think to explain your appearance to anyone else. I mean, come on. We’ve all been doing that for way too long.

And when it comes to overwhelm, what if you just declared that you’re done with it?

Like, “I don’t do overwhelm. I just refuse.” OMG. Can you imagine?

Now to do this, it is going to take some work. But it’s not as hard as you think.

As I explain in this podcast episode, it’s important for you to think back on a moment in your own childhood when you felt like your power was taken away from you.

Another way to look at that is to remember feeling powerless or like someone had just knocked your legs out from under you.

We all have those moments. And the cool part is, once we identify them, we can see some of the stories and habits we started to create around them.

And knowing your own stories is critical to let them go. You might be tempted to hold on to them or pretend that they’re still real by complaining, or staying overwhelmed, or continuing to explain your grown-up decisions as if you were still a child.

You see what I did there?

The world has some pretty grown up problems. And we need grown up women to solve them.

The first step to getting that done is to let these old “power-stealing” stories go and to stop hiding behind overwhelm and explanations.

So pop in those earphones, and let’s get to it.

If you loved this episode of the Game On Girlfriend Podcast, you might also enjoy Episode 57: Are The Results You Want Talking Too Long?