It’s not just the computer! Finding relief from overwhelm with NPA.

I stare at the computer screen biting back the tears. Telling myself to hold it together, that maybe it will work this time…. But No. My plugins won’t update and until they do I can’t write anything on my website.

The dam bursts and I can’t hold it in anymore. I am gulping with enormous sobs as I break down completely.  I have been trying fruitlessly for two hours to update my plugins.  The ‘idiots guide’ my brother created for me is not idiot enough for me I think despairingly. I am trying to cry and not wake the baby at the same time, I sound like a strangled pig and even if I don’t wake him I have 15 minutes left until the school run anyway. 

My brother comes to the rescue and fixes what took me two hours to fail at in about ten minutes. His kindness overwhelms me further. My heart is breaking. My mind is in overdrive telling me how I’ve wasted this precious time. The precious time I have precious little of these days.  A blip like this derails my whole schedule.

 I must look crazy from the outside I think, getting this upset over such a small detail that is now fixed. I try to reassure myself that it will be ok. Tomorrow is another day. But the less kind inner critic is having a field day. Perhaps she hopes to solve my problems by demoralizing me further but it just adds to the overwhelm bearing down on me from all sides.

Right now, in the thick of it the pain is all consuming.  Acute and raw.  I cry and I cry.  I can’t do anything else but cry. And this is how it is. A small seemingly trivial event that has even been resolved has the power to tip me over the edge into despair. A pit from which I can see no solutions only hardship. A dark place of sadness where I secretly believe myself to be completely useless and no good to anyone.  The way I am feeling bears no resemblance to the size of the fairly ordinary event.

I feel trapped. No way out, nothing I can do, panicking as time ticking loudly and ominously away reminding me of all I’ve not done yet.

Except there is one thing I can do. One thing I know to do. The NPA Process.

So I take overwhelm through the words to the NPA Process ( a simple 6 line spoken word process that you can find here)

I say the words and I sit allowing my experience of the energy of overwhelm to unfold with the gentle support of the NPA energy.

Relief floods my body. “It’s not just the computer” I say out loud and I start laughing. In a nice way.

Somehow the simple statement that it is not just the computer that is causing me to feel overwhelm has the power to unlock the whole thing. I feel the tension and stress flowing out of me. I see myself at the centre of a misty landscape surrounded by all the important people and jobs in my life. I can clearly see how much I have going on and why I have ended up in such a state of overwhelm. Anyone would. It is not because I am more useless than anyone else. It is because I have so much going on and I fell into the trap of pushing relentlessly to get it all done. Telling myself it had to be now and this way caused me to feel like the world was ending when life had other ideas.  Too much self induced pressure. Rigidity.

As I continued to watch space began to open up around me. The events had space around them and from me. I could breathe again and felt myself relax.   Somehow this simple process has caused me to see I am overwhelmed and I am still ok.

I sit some more. Witnessing the experience.

Then it is gone.   Just like that.  I am no longer overwhelmed. 

I have just as much to do and no idea how I will make it work but it no longer has the power to crush me. I am OK, I know everything is going to be ok and its time to pick my kids up.

So I gather up my son, dirty nappy no shoes and all and leave overwhelm behind. I let the relief carry me up the hill instead. I feel free, clean, empty. Even though my son yanks my hair hard and continuously yelling goal each time I am ok, Tomorrow really is another day and for today I am ok.  This is the simple power of NPA.

So what does this story have to do with pregnancy and preparing for birth?

Well the last time and on a few occasions previously that I got to this point of overwhelm, where the slightest issue could trigger a complete break down, I was pregnant. 

Now you are pregnant you have just added a whole new level of activity to your daily life, that goes on under the surface 24/7. As it carries on without your conscious input it is easy to be slightly less than conscious with how we treat our hard working bodies. We keep going. We push our bodies and our selves to keep going at the same pace we did before we were pregnant. We try to be superwoman.

But creating a new human being takes some serious energy expenditure and as with our financial budgets what goes out has to be balanced with what comes in. When we don’t do that, when we don’t take extra time and space for self care, overwhelm and exhaustion are soon to be found tagging along at our heels.

When we are pregnant we are different in other ways too. More emotional. More vulnerable. More intuitive.  These are all qualities that enrich our connection in pregnancy and support us to grow our baby. And they are all the qualities that are not particularly valued in a world that prioritises the masculine experience. A paradigm that expects constant output in a steady rhythm regardless. A paradigm that does not take account of our fluctuating rhythms. That shames our emotionality and vulnerability. That does not understand intuitive knowing and prefers scientific facts that can be measured.

So we succumb to the status quo and to the ancient, unconscious conditioning that our lives run on.  We accept the pressure to keep going and not complain. We hold it together like we have been doing for centuries. Too often we leave ourselves and our needs to last or even out of the equation altogether. Until we reach breaking point as I did at the computer.

My question to you is do you recognise yourself in my story? Do any parts of it hit you on some level?

Perhaps you have been getting into a state over what your inner critic says are just small events that you should just get over and get on with it.

Perhaps you are finding yourself arriving home from work too exhausted to do more than put your (swollen) ankles up on the sofa? Falling asleep to wake ( if you are lucky enough to get unbroken sleep) to start the whole cycle over again.  But you have not had the time to reflect on the craziness of this and make a change and in the mean time is flying by.

Perhaps you are shy to admit you are struggling, Perhaps you have not noticed as you keep going relentlessly, feeling guilty to ask for more breaks or rest time ‘just’ because you are pregnant.

These are all signs. Hints by your body, by the universe, by your soul that you need to make a change. If you have not noticed that you are running on empty and you are still running, running running…. It is time to stop and re-evaluate your priorities.

My invitation to you today is to stop. Take a little time to enquire of yourself? Am I looking after myself, am I honouring this body and this pregnancy? Ask your body how she is doing and what she needs. Then take her advice.  Take some time this week to do something different, something restful and regenerative just for you.  Just because.

Please feel free to comment and tell me what you choose to do. I would love to hear and celebrate with you.

If this story has awoken your curiosity in NPA , (the incredibly useful and versatile tool that helped me shift quickly out of overwhelm mode into a kinder, gentler state in which ironically much more is getting done with less effort) then please check out this ( affiliate) link where you can download the  NPA Process sheet for free and have a go yourself.

Feeling stressed, overwhelmed or burnt out and want to take some direct action with personalised support?

My mother Nurture Massage Treatments are the perfect antidote to overwhelm and  are a very  enjoyable way to create space and time for you in your life.  

My birth confidence Sessions are best for you if know your life is too busy and you are suffering from overwhelm or burn out but you can't bring yourself to make the changes you need on your own.  Deep transformation awaits for you if you choose to invest in this option.

I will be back next week with more on the theme of overwhelm and what to do if you recognise you are either in overwhelm or fast heading towards breaking point.

Charlotte Kanyi

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