Maybe it’s time for overwhelm

I spend a lot of time thinking about future projects, future plans, and future creations. 

I am most excited when I focus on my next creative idea. 

But when I slow down…

And give myself some space…

I notice just how much my life and the world has changed in the past 2+ years. And I can quickly feel overwhelmed. 

On paper things still seem the same:

• I am still a photographer. 

• I am still in a committed relationship with my partner Jenn. 

• I still live in Toronto. 

• I still share stories about my life on social media. 

But somehow everything feels different. 

The world has changed a lot in the past two years. 

These changes impacted all of our lives differently, and I don’t want to argue about which changes were good or bad. I just want to hold space and give us all permission to feel our overwhelm. 

The point isn’t to stay in the overwhelmed feelings forever. But if you never give yourself space to actually process the immense shifts of the past two years, then that feeling of overwhelm can stay lodged in your nervous system, like half-digested food. 

Those unprocessed feelings can start to spread through your system and begin to steal your energy. 

Our nervous systems are still recovering from all the rapid and abrupt changes in the past 2 years.

Yes, it’s scary to consciously step into overwhelm.

No, you don't need to rush into it.

You can go slowly. 

I am going to start by journalling and using my morning pages to slowly unpack what's there for me. 

And don’t forget that you also don't need to do it alone. I promise there are others in your life who are also experiencing something similar—I sure am.

PS: I know the image below says to keep running, but you are allowed to stop running and rest for a while. We have all been running for a very long time now.