🌟 How to overcome hard times + conquer your mind

Hey Flawsome Human,

Hope your Wednesday is a beautiful one.

Last week I touched on 10 things you can do in your day to increase your mood, mental health, & productivity (if you’re new and missed it, you can find the newsletter archive here).

But what about when everything comes CRASHING DOWN and your 45 minute workout or 10 minute meditation doesn’t fix everything?

Today let’s dive into how to deal with down days, because we all have them.

If I could describe my 2024….

And…

Bankruptcy, loss of my business, moving home…

But somehow I was able to not let all of the ‘bad’ things happening consume me, because I had the right tool kit to handle it.

✊ HOW TO OVERCOME HARD TIMES ✊

Down periods in our life can be caused by many different things; trauma, failures, losses, regrets… here’s ways to help manage the unexpected knocks:

1️⃣ Allow Yourself to Feel and Process

When life hits hard, the immediate reaction is often to jump into something new, or to distract ourselves from the pain (I launched a new business a month after losing one - big mistake).

Healing requires space. Like a glass of murky water, if you let it sit, the dirt settles, and the water becomes clear. Give yourself time to process your emotions, to let the chaos within settle. Whether it’s journaling, screaming in the car (I do this but I understand it can be weird lol), or simply taking time off—allow yourself to feel whatever you’re going through. If you try to force yourself to move through this process too quick, you’re missing opportunities to learn.

… it’s okay to take time off and you don’t need to feel guilty about it.

2️⃣ Disconnect from Distractions

In our hyper-stimulated world, it’s easy to avoid facing our thoughts by staying constantly distracted. Endless scrolling. Music. Netflix. But true healing requires us to tune in to ourselves.

Last week I talked about disconnecting a little bit but I want to bring it up again because it really is the most helpful thing you can do. I took it one step further and did a 12 hour walk challenge created by endurance athlete Colin O’Brady (you can find more info here, he has a really incredible story). Not affiliated, just respect & love what he’s doing.

I was able to learn so much about myself simply by being alone with my thoughts, uninterrupted for 12 hours in nature. My journal was full of thoughts I’ve never had the ability to discover about myself.

Disconnect from the noise and listen to what your heart and mind are really telling you. Maybe you do a 3 hour walk - find what works for you (and you can take as many breaks as you need).

3️⃣ Take Small Steps Forward

Healing & overcoming hardships doesn’t happen overnight, and you don’t need to ‘bounce back’ all at once. Start by taking small steps forward.

Whatever happened in your life that is causing you difficulties, figure out what you need to do to get in a better place. For me, I realized I wanted to share my story & show others they aren’t alone in their struggles.

This newsletter & the podcast are the vehicles to do that. So first step was buying a mic & naming the newsletter.

What is 1 small thing you can do today to move you forward, even if it’s the smallest thing?

… If you want more on this, you can tune into my podcast where I also share my plant medicine healing retreat experience:

Watch on Youtube

Listen on Apple

Listen on Spotify

Sometimes to get out of dark places, we need to do things that are scary and uncomfortable. Miley Cyrus won a Disney award recently & she said something that really struck me;

“Even legends get scared, but the difference is - they do it anyway.”

Do it scared. Do it with uncertainty. Do it. Things will fall into place & you’ll get momentum quickly, you just need to take steps forward and not let the negative emotions paralyze you.

Stay Flawsome,

-Erica