Clutterbug - Real-Life Hacks and Tips to Declutter, Organize and Clean your Home Fast - Feeling stressed out? Me too. Let’s let go of stress & anxiety together! | Clutterbug Podcast # 99

Episode Date: November 23, 2020

I have been feeling a lot of stress and anxiety lately, and it's manifesting in physical ways. In this podcast, I share five simple things I am doing to try and alleviate stress and anxiety in my life.      You can find more Clutterbug content here: Website: http://www.clutterbug.me YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@clutterbug TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@clutterbug_me Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/clutterbug_me/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Clutterbug.Me/   #clutterbug #podcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today we're talking about stress reduction. I'm going to share some of my little things that I do to help alleviate stress, but I'm also going to get real with you guys about how much I'm actually struggling right now. Hey, Clutterbugs, welcome back to the Clutterbug podcast, where we're talking about stress today. I am so stressed out. I'm going to just share a little bit about what's going on in my own life and how I'm trying to combat this. I think right now is stressful for a lot of people because of COVID there's this underlying stress we don't even realize that we have so even if you're not stressed about it I think just because there's so much craziness going on in the world we do have an added layer of underlying stress but I have other things going on in my life that are definitely piling on things that I haven't had to deal with before and the truth is I didn't even realize how anxious and overwhelmed and stressed out I was feeling until I went to the dentist I went to the dentist I went to the dentist because my mouth was hurting.

I go to the dentist all the time and he said, wow, like your teeth have really filed down and I see some sort of jaw damage to suggest that you are clenching your jaw really tight while you sleep. And this is new. I haven't seen this before. Like what's going on? And I was like, oh, I didn't even realize I was doing it. So he recommended a mouth guard.

So I got a mouth guard. I was still clenching so tight at night that when I woke up in the morning, I could hardly move my jaw. Like it hurt so badly. And this is all really recently, probably in the last six months, something that I've never done before in my life. And now all of a sudden I'm clenching my jaw while I sleep. I have to wear a mouth guard, you guys.

I'm taking muscle relaxers and anti-anxiety medication before bed and still clenching my jaw. So I made it my mission these last few weeks to just read everything I could and to try all the things that I could to try to alleviate my stress. And some things I've noticed have worked. Other things, not so much. So I wanted to share those things with you, what I'm doing to help alleviate the stress. But I also wanted to just be open and frank with you about what's going on in my life. Everybody has different levels of things that stress them out. So I'm going to share mine with you.

the things that are going on that caused me to subconsciously clench my jaw so hard that I can't even move it in the morning. And you're probably like, that's no big deal. Like, whatever. I have all this other stuff. So I definitely, I'm not, I want to just know that everyone has different levels of things and ways that they handle stress. But so often we don't even realize when we do have this underlying anxiety going on that it can manifest in other ways. And for me, it's just, jaw pain and clenching. For some people, it's physical illness, it's depression, it's just moodiness, sadness, whatever it is. We could be having symptoms related to stress and anxiety without even realizing that they're going together. So I didn't realize that my jaw pain

was because I was stressed out. So here's what's going on. That's really causing me a lot of stress. Joe lost his job in March due to COVID, maybe May. He lost his job due to COVID. So I am completely supporting the family 100%, which I've never done before. My job has always been a hobby on the side, right? Joe's been the breadwinner. I've been the stay-at-home mom who's been doing things for fun. And we are fine and clutterbugs doing really well.

But just that pressure of having to support the family for the first time ever in my life ever. I'm putting my own internal, I guess, pressure and stress on that. I got a second season of Hot Mess House, which is amazing and incredible. But because of COVID, I'm going to be having to relocate to the U.S. and not come back to visit because I'd have to quarantine for two weeks if I came back to visit. So there's the stress of not knowing, is my family coming with me? Am I leaving my family for six months? Can they come with me with COVID? do we have a place for them to stay? There's so many things up in the air,

and I find that very, very stressful. And just adding that Christmas, the holidays is coming up, trying to sort of manage expectations. A family is like, are you coming over? Are we having, and I'm like, we can't because of COVID, we can only have 10 people and people are getting their feelings hurt and where do we go and how do we spend our time and having to buy all the gifts for everyone,

going out right now into stores, even though I'm like, I know my chances are really low and I'm wearing a mask, I'm still feeling a lot of stress being out in public. So I'm doing a lot of online shopping while working 60 hours a week. And just all of this pressure has led to obnoxious amounts of stress that I didn't even realize I was feeling and causing me to clench my jaw. So what am I doing about it? Let's talk about that. How are we going to alleviate stress in your life, in my life? What are some things that we can do? And everything I read has been saying, meditate, meditate, meditate, that that's an amazing way to alleviate stress. And so I try, you guys, I try so hard to meditate. I put on relaxing music. I try to just sit there and quiet my mind.

And it's just, it's not for me. And that, that just, I just, maybe, maybe I need to practice more because I have a really hard time shutting off my brain. And the whole time I'm trying to meditate, I'm thinking, oh my gosh, there's so many other things I can do. And I end up feeling more stressed, more anxious at the end of my 20 minutes of trying to sit and relax and think about nothing than I do just, you know, watching a movie or watching Netflix or something like that, another way to turn off my brain. So for me, meditation doesn't work, but for so many people, they swear by meditation. But for me, what is working is my daily brain dump. So I get a piece of paper in the morning and I'm just dumping my thoughts.

And every morning it's like, are the kids coming with me or are they not? I mean, it's the same thing. But just getting it on paper, it's almost like it sucks it out of my mind for a few minutes. It's almost like a little piece of it I don't have to think about because I've written it down. so I know like it's on this piece of paper. You're not going to forget. You are dealing with it. It's here.

So I brain dump all the ideas for my videos and blog. I brain dump things I want to have for dinner. I brain dump gift ideas. And it's not organized. It really literally is all the thoughts that are jumbled in my mind, that are keeping me up at night, that are distracting me, that are causing me stress and anxiety. I dump them on a piece of paper and I immediately feel better.

And so if you're not brain dumping, this is something I 100% recommend that you do. And if you're a micro organizer, you probably want to brain dump maybe a little bit more organized than I do. Perhaps have a notepad that has like gift ideas on one page and to-dos on another page and just random thoughts on another page. But for me, I'm just pouring everything, bleh, onto one piece of paper. And then what I do from there is I do this every single morning. you guys I take my calendar my little planner and I'm not a planner person but I have like this this planner that I got that's basically a bullet journal so it's I can create my own schedule and I just put like okay you're going to do this on this day and this on this day and this on this

day and a couple of other quick breakdowns of to-dos that I want to do or things that people I need to call or schedules that I need to come up with for next week it's really just organic brain dumping with a little bit more structure. So taking everything off my brain dump list and structuring it slightly. Here's the honest truth. I don't follow this schedule to a T. I am not a schedule person. I'm not a planner person. But doing this, even just writing it down, I feel just even talking about it, I feel some some pressure off my shoulders. I feel myself relax a little bit. I feel like I can take a deeper breath. I feel like I'm in control of something. And so when all the other stuff is out of control,

when I'm in control of one area, I instantly feel less stress. So brain dumping, planning a schedule. And here's the other thing that I've tried to do. It's adding some exercise to my day. and it's not going to look like you think you guys because for me I'm always like I want to exercise I want to walk I want to do things I want to move that's what I need to do is just move but when I'm walking when I'm walking the dog that's amazing but when I'm just just exercising for the sake of exercising I don't enjoy sweating I don't enjoy exercise and so it feels like a chore it feels like another added chore except I'm not getting any benefit that I can see immediately So what I've been doing instead is I'm really looking at doing housework as a form of exercise.

So I'm like, okay, I'm going to put away the laundry today. But every time that I have to bring something down to the downstairs bathroom or Izzy's room, I'm taking like a few at a time. So I'm exercising the stairs. So I'm like, I know, it sounds crazy. Instead of carrying up the full laundry basket from the basement laundry room upstairs to where I put away laundry, or if I have a basket upstairs to take down to Izzy's room or the downstairs bathroom or to take dirty laundry down, I'm just taking a couple of handfuls and going back and forth and back and

forth to get that exercise. Because I feel like, yes, I'm exercising, I'm running the stairs. It's not a stair master, but I'm still like I can see the accomplishment that I'm achieving by getting laundry done at the same time. And so this is working for me of all the times that I'm like, I need to exercise. Why don't I go for walks more? why don't I run? Why don't I, you know, go to the gym and do the stairmaster or the elliptical machine or something like that. I'm finding if I give myself a purpose in my house, of something

that else that needs to get done and just incorporating exercise into it, I don't know. I feel it's like it's killing two birds with one stone. I'm being more efficient. And so I'm way more motivated to actually do it and I'm getting up and I'm moving. And so the biggest thing that I've been doing when it comes to just moving my body is I'm trying to declutter more. And so I have a little bag and every day I'm just walking through the house. I'm looking for something that can go. Garbage, trash, bottles from the shower is what I've been finding. Going up and down the stairs, opening up my drawers in the craft room, like looking for a craft supply I haven't used.

Going up in the kids' room, looking for a shirt that they've outgrown, going into my room and like, okay, what necklace have I not worn? And I'm literally just running around the house, like as fast as I can, looking sort of Easter egg hunting. to fill my bag. I'm not pulling things out. I'm not making a mess. I'm not piling. I am Easter egg hunting, I guess. And I'm feeling like a little winded at the end, if truth be told. It's more walking than it is actually purging. But yeah, I see this as a form of exercise and moving. And I'm letting go of inventory in my house at the same time. And when I let go of inventory in my house, I'm letting go of the inventory in my mind. When I have less stuff, whenever I declutter, I feel like inside, I feel like, okay, Cass, that's one less thing you have to think about.

It's one less thing on your plate. And yeah, maybe it's a shirt in Milo's closet that he hasn't worn in three months, so it's not really something that's taxing me. But the process of letting it go feels like that's one less thing. That's one less thing that I have to think about and deal with right now. so I'm decluttering a lot. I'm doing this almost every single day for the past two weeks, and it's just a bag here and a bag there.

But every time I do it, I feel like that sense of control, I feel like that sense of removing things from my life that are unnecessary. So making time to declutter is moving my body, it's getting myself out from the office space, stopping staring at the computer, not staring at Facebook or watching Netflix or some other wasted time. I'm motivating myself to move, but I'm feeling better. I'm feeling less anxiety and less stress because I have less inventory to manage in my house.

I am a night owl. I just love staying up late. I think it's because my kids go to bed and then it's quiet. I get to like zone out, I guess, without interruption, without feeling good. guilty for zoning out because when they're awake, I'm not going to sit and watch a movie or, you know, scroll Facebook when they're around because I feel like I'm checking out for my family. That's a real sense of guilt there. And so I try to be, even though I'm not always fully 100% engaged with them, I try to not detach myself when they're awake. And I look forward

to that time, though, when I can just zone out and, you know, shut my brain off. And I generally can only do that after they go to bed. And so I want to stay up as late as possible because guess what? The next day it all starts over again and its work and it's stress and its pressure. And so what I'm doing is I'm staying up really late and then having to get up early and I'm sleep deprived and that extra time that I had to zone hasn't fulfilled me in a way that was worth the sleep deprivation that it was causing. And so I'm going to bed earlier and it's been so hard. but I feel so much better just getting that extra rest. And so usually I'm in bed at 1 o'clock, you guys.

Sometimes I stay up till 2. Now I'm going to bed at 10. And I don't generally fall asleep till 11 because my brain doesn't shut off, but I'm consciously making that effort that 10 is my bedtime. 10 o'clock is also when Abby goes to bed. And so I'm not getting that time at night for just me. And that's okay. and that's okay because that's leading to my next way that I'm helping de-stress and that's taking a

day off a week. I'm taking a day off not just from work but from life and it's been two weekends now that I've done this yesterday I literally laid in bed all day and just watched I crushed so much Netflix I watched Dash and Lily I think it's called it was it was really quite bad and the Queen's Gambit, I think. It's two seasons, you guys, two seasons of a Netflix show in one day. My kids were like, Joe was taking care of them, he was making their meals, he made dinner, he cleaned up, he helped them make their lunches the next day, he did laundry. I took the entire day off and it was glorious. It was freaking amazing. And I didn't feel guilty at all. I needed it. It was like medicine for me.

for my soul, for my anxiety, for my stress. And last night, I must not have clenched at all because I woke up without jaw pain. And so I want you to give yourself permission to take a day off. To take a day off of life, of laundry, of dishes, of cleaning of kids, of husbands, of spouses, of whatever. I want you to take a day off and be okay with that. taking that day off and you're feeling guilty about it it isn't really a day off is it because you're not you're not allowing your brain to just relax and give yourself permission to let go of all of it if you're feeling guilty and you're stressing about it so it's really important that you take a day off

and that you have a supportive spouse or kids just let them know I need this I need a full day off and maybe your day off isn't laying in bed. Maybe your day off is going to a friend's house for the day and doing a movie marathon with your best friend or going shopping or going, I don't know, my sister loves to go for hikes. She's driven four hours to go hiking in the woods and then four hours back.

Whatever it is that fills you up, that makes you feel just relaxed and calm and rejuvenated or excited or whatever. it is that you need, I want you to give yourself permission to have it for a full entire day. Because being a mom, being a housewife, being an adult, it's taxing. It's stressful. And you deserve a break from it. And so every single week I'm going to take a day off from life, from being a grown-up, from whatever, until I'm not feeling anxious and stressed anymore.

and I'm hoping that you do the same. So thank you guys so much for listening and I'll see you guys next time.