What to do when life is crazy busy! AI transcript and summary - episode of podcast Re-Mind Yourself

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Episode: What to do when life is crazy busy!

Author: Michelle Chestovich MD
Duration: 00:10:46

Episode Shownotes

Physician coach Michelle Chestovich MD shares a mistake that many of us make that often make crazy busy weeks even more difficult and shows you how to gain back control.

Full Transcript

00:00:00 Speaker_00
You are listening to Episode 186 of the Remind Yourself Podcast. Welcome to the Remind Yourself Podcast, the podcast for physician moms just like you who want to ditch mom guilt, stop yelling, and start enjoying their lives today.

00:00:22 Speaker_00
I'm your host, Rachelle Chestevich, certified life coach, family physician, and mom of four. If you want to overcome overwhelm for once and for all, this is the place for you. Hello, Mama Docs, and welcome back.

00:00:39 Speaker_00
I am so excited to be here with you today to share this wonderful episode. But before I dive in, I just want to take a moment and acknowledge the fact that this is episode 186. And I may have just gotten out my calendar and counted out the weeks.

00:00:55 Speaker_00
And I was so excited to see that 14 weeks from now, when episode number 200 airs, it is on Wednesday, January 1st. 2025. If that's not auspicious, I don't know what is.

00:01:11 Speaker_00
I'm super excited about this landmark episode drop and I just wanted to share my excitement with all of you.

00:01:18 Speaker_00
I don't yet know what that 200th episode is going to entail, but it's going to be something amazing and you are definitely going to want to tune in.

00:01:27 Speaker_00
And before I get to today's episode, I just want to thank all of you again for being my dedicated listeners. I know some of you have been listening from the very beginning, and some of you have just recently joined. And I want to say welcome.

00:01:40 Speaker_00
I'm so glad you're here. Somebody recently reached out to me and said that she has binged and listened to all of my episodes, and she's made such changes in her life. She's getting home earlier with her notes finished.

00:01:53 Speaker_00
She is having more joy in her life. She's having less stress. And I hear this time and again that the small tips and tools that I share with you, if you apply them to your life, it can really make a big difference.

00:02:06 Speaker_00
Now, I certainly love coaching individually and in groups with physician women as well. And yet I know that that doesn't work for everybody. And so I'm so grateful that this podcast is here for you to listen and to apply these things to your life.

00:02:20 Speaker_00
I also want to take a moment to thank all of you for sharing this with others. That is how the podcast becomes more readily available to people who are stressed.

00:02:30 Speaker_00
So thank you for sharing links, for forwarding emails to share with folks who you think would benefit. And if you've never yet rated or reviewed, That's another simple thing you could do.

00:02:41 Speaker_00
If you could take a minute and rate and review the podcast, that helps it become more easily found by people who are looking for something like this.

00:02:49 Speaker_00
So thank you again, you amazing listeners, and get excited for episode 200 coming up on January 1st, 2025.

00:02:58 Speaker_00
Okay, I want to come back to today's episode and it's something that I've seen a bit recently in coaching and in fact, it's something that comes up often. And so I want to help you figure out what to do when things become crazy busy in your life.

00:03:11 Speaker_00
Sometimes it just feels like life in general is crazy busy, but there can certainly be seasons. And just when you feel like you have your head above water, something new comes along.

00:03:21 Speaker_00
Maybe one of your colleagues retires and you have a new influx of the whole patient panel. Family members are sick and that throws off your routine.

00:03:30 Speaker_00
Perhaps it's that, you know, it's back to school and there is a week that your kids have a lot of activities and games and projects and things like that.

00:03:40 Speaker_00
Whatever it is for you that makes things feel like it's crazy busy, I want you to tune in and listen. When things get crazy busy in your life, what do you do to take care of the number one asset, you?

00:03:56 Speaker_00
Many of us throw aside the routines that we have to take care of us, whether it's getting to bed at a certain hour, whether it's exercising regularly.

00:04:05 Speaker_00
Maybe it's even as simple as we have a routine of leaving our office for 10 minutes every day during the noon hour to walk around the parking lot and do some breathing.

00:04:15 Speaker_00
And when things get crazy busy, our brain tells us again and again, this is an emergency. I don't have time. Nod your head, raise your hand if this is true. I know for myself, when I had call weeks and extra meetings and I had deliveries,

00:04:30 Speaker_00
I was really quick to throw aside the things that were helping me, although they seemed very kind of frivolous and optional.

00:04:39 Speaker_00
So for example, morning exercise, when I have additional meetings or I've been at deliveries, it's easy to push that stuff aside. And I hear that time and again from the women physicians that I work with.

00:04:52 Speaker_00
I don't have time to go for that 10-minute walk at lunch because I've got so many things to catch up on. I don't have time to do my three times a week morning walk because, oh my goodness, I've got so many things to do.

00:05:04 Speaker_00
And what I will tell you is, yes, I understand why you feel this way. And so let's just give ourselves a deep breath and some real self-compassion. And self-compassion is this, you name what's going on. Wow, things seem really tough right now.

00:05:25 Speaker_00
There's a lot on my plate. I'm feeling very overwhelmed or I'm feeling very stressed, whatever resonates with you. So name the emotion and then take another deep breath. This is normal and a part of being human.

00:05:39 Speaker_00
And I can acknowledge that it's actually not an emergency. Because here's a little hint, ladies and gentlemen. We've trained our brains to deal with emergencies very simply and very readily.

00:05:51 Speaker_00
And our brain is always on the lookout for where's the emergency, where's the emergency. Having 10 extra messages in your inbox, or say even 20 extra messages in your inbox,

00:06:01 Speaker_00
often registers in your brain as a full-on code, crisis, emergency, but it's not. And only after you take a deep breath and have some self-compassion, I'm feeling really stressed here, how can I be kind to myself? Can you objectively look at that?

00:06:18 Speaker_00
So the way to get out, the way to solve for life when it's crazy busy is going to be different for all of us. And yet, I want you to take a look at what you're getting rid of and question whether maybe it's the wrong thing.

00:06:32 Speaker_00
Because if it's getting rid of things that help you relieve stress and help you get adequate sleep so that you can lower your stress level and function with a fully functioning brain, I would say that's probably not the right thing to get rid of.

00:06:46 Speaker_00
Perhaps there are other things you can get rid of those weeks. And I love asking this question. What on your to-do list can you automate, delegate, eliminate? Maybe on the weeks that it's crazy busy, you have the simplest meal routine.

00:07:01 Speaker_00
For instance, like maybe it's peanut butter jelly sandwiches and fruit and veggies one night and scrambled eggs and toast the next night with some fruit.

00:07:08 Speaker_00
Again, you don't need me to go through a litany of simple, simple meals, but what if it's just that simple? What if that's one thing that you could do that makes things easier when it's crazy busy, that isn't taking away from you and what you need?

00:07:26 Speaker_00
Okay. And if you, by chance, are keeping up with all the things that you do to help yourself feel good, awesome. Keep at it. Sometimes I talk about even needing to double down, like literally get rid of all of the things that are unnecessary.

00:07:41 Speaker_00
and take extra good care of you so you can handle all of the things. Now, if you've been listening for me for a while, I mean, you can go back and listen to episode number two, The Queen of Overwhelm.

00:07:52 Speaker_00
It's the way we're thinking that makes us really feel that life is crazy busy. And so changing your mindset subtly can also help.

00:08:00 Speaker_00
And yet sometimes I just want to acknowledge that, yeah, there's a lot more on your plate this week, a lot more things to do, even objectively. And that triggers the alarm in our brain. Oh my gosh, this is emergency, I have so much to do.

00:08:13 Speaker_00
Get rid of, we start to like get rid of the dead weight. And yet what we're getting rid of is often taking care of us. And I invite you to do the opposite. Take care of you and then figure out how am I going to get these other things done?

00:08:28 Speaker_00
What can I completely just get rid of this week? Okay, my friends, I wanted to share that with you because this is a busy season. It's back to school, the sports are ramping up, the projects are ramping up. It's homecoming week for my children.

00:08:42 Speaker_00
There are lots of things going on. So what can you do to simplify by automating, delegating, and eliminating? And where, perhaps, do you have the tendency to ditch things that you need in order to feel good? Put that back on your plate.

00:08:58 Speaker_00
What if that was actually vital in order to handle the week? All right, my friends, you are amazing.

00:09:05 Speaker_00
I know that we know this intellectually and yet, oh, when the brain starts freaking out and thinking it's an emergency, oh my gosh, I've got to handle all these things.

00:09:14 Speaker_00
We often get rid of things that intellectually we understand are helpful, but it's just, it's easy to cross off. My thought is leave the darn messages and deal with those in a few days, but I digress.

00:09:26 Speaker_00
Go back and listen to my inbox messages if you struggle with that. That is something that I'm seeing time and again with folks and it's something I'm going to continue to share tips with over this next few weeks and into the next year certainly.

00:09:39 Speaker_00
I am here to try to give you things that can make your day-to-day life easier. Because as I often say, being a physician is tough, being a mom is tough, but it doesn't need to be so hard. So I'm so glad you're here.

00:09:54 Speaker_00
Thank you for being an amazing, dedicated listener. Thank you for sharing the word with others. And thank you for rating and reviewing.

00:10:00 Speaker_00
I'm already scheming and thinking about what amazing things I can do in the lead up to the 200th episode and what I'm going to do to make that just the most amazing. Episode you've ever heard. Okay, dear friends.

00:10:11 Speaker_00
That's what I have for you this week how to gain control when life feels crazy busy Double down on taking care of you. Alright friends until next week. Peace and love to all of you

00:10:23 Speaker_00
Are you ready to take control of your life and put these tools into action? I'm here to help. I offer free consultations for physician moms to see if my one-on-one coaching package is right for you.

00:10:35 Speaker_00
You can sign up for a free consult at www.MamaDocLifeCoach.com.