By Barbara Mutedzi
If you know the high performer that I am, I hate sleepless nights because that means my productive and performance the next day will be compromised.
Last month I found myself in a lot of work scenarios that left me tired, irritable, recreating scenes in my head – in the middle of the night – that were now in the past.
What I was doing was trying to solve challenges that had happened in the past, as opposed to charting a way forward for future and similar events.
What I also realized from a neuro-scientific point of view, is that my brain could not keep up with the pace of new events that were happening in that time.
I was getting myself confused as I was trying to solve challenges using the same sort of solutions that worked on other challenges, but which were not similar to the current challenges I was experiencing it was like trying to fit a square into a round hole.
Doesn’t work. What was great though, was that I was throwing myself into situations that were out of what I knew, and so I was growing.
What was not helping me, was not embracing the newness of it all, and then making sure that my foundation of truth was first and foremost in the center of my mind before I stepped out into these scenarios.
This is the first thing you need to be clear on, and to have support systems or habits that keep you grounded in this. Because I had convinced myself that I needed to rush through the process due to other people’s deadlines, and that I would be okay, I stumbled over my own words.
I only recognized all of this after I was tired of not sleeping well. I went back to the drawing board.
Who am I? What am I about? What is my life purpose? How is that showing up? How am I keeping grounded if at all? What do I need to adjust? Is this an opportunity of growth or failure?
What do I know about myself and the resilience, high performer within? I answered all of these, wrote them down, then got to work.
Answer these same questions for yourself when in new situations. You what this does for you?
It calms your brain, allowing it to release calming hormones, reduces stress hormones that reduce the quality of your sleep; and as you write things down on paper, it allows you to logically reduce chatter in your mind that is not focused and clear.
More questions for us to ask ourselves: Why did this challenge need to be resolved? Was I the right person I needed to resolve it?
Where the answer was yes, due to the disinterest of those around me, I had to move forward with it.
What emotional strength, mental fortitude and physical resources did I need to make sure that I could not only tackle this challenge by myself, but also show others how to? Answer these for yourself as well.
Do you know what helped in answering all these questions? A reminder of my own worth, a reminder of the importance of self-acceptance wherever we are on our journeys, and then a reminder of total honesty and authenticity in all we do.
The more honest we are with ourselves, the more we gain strength and or do the work that needs to be done to increase our knowledge and power in what we have decided to do.
The more I reflected, journaled, visualized and started acting, the more I triggered my brain into thing creatively, thus reducing the stress hormones that it was producing during my sleepless nights, thus calming it down.
Rest is so important in finding creative and innovative ways to move through your challenges in the best way possible and a fully functional space.
Be kind to yourself on your journey. Keep trying new and different things, step out offer comfort zone, but make sure your foundation is strong, that you are writing things down and confident in your ability to conquer whatever new thing you come across. Stay awesome!!
With kind regards, grace and gratitude
Barbara Mutedzi is a life coach
