"When Everything Is Too Much"

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Exhausted? Overwhelmed? Pretending you're fine when you're not?

This isn't another "think positive" podcast. This is for when everything feels like too much and you're tired of performing okay.

In this raw, unfiltered solo episode, NatNat gets real about what's actually happening right now. No toxic positivity. No forced gratitude. No pressure to heal perfectly.

You'll hear:

• Why you're not broken - you're responding normally to abnormal pressure
• The truth about your dysregulated nervous system (and why that's okay)
• A different kind of meditation that meets you exactly where you are
• Permission to feel everything without fixing anything
• What actually helps when self-care feels impossible

This is for the bone-tired, the overwhelmed, the ones carrying everyone else's weight. For people lying awake at 3 AM wondering if they're the only one drowning. For anyone who's exhausted from being the strong one.

Trigger warning: This episode contains honest discussion of mental health struggles, overwhelm, and emotional pain. It's designed to validate difficult feelings, not minimize them.

If you're ready to stop pretending and start breathing, this one's for you.

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Misdirection by The Grey Room / Density & Time

Episode Transcript

NatNat Be (00:00):
Hey, it's Nat Nat, and welcome to the Lift One Self
podcast.
Before we go anywhere else,let's just land here.
I know you found your way tothis moment for a reason.
Maybe you're in your carbetween obligations.
Maybe you're lying in your bedat 2am with thoughts spinning.
Maybe you're walking somewherecarrying more than what's in

(00:22):
your hands.
Whatever brought you here?
Your nervous system alreadyknows something your mind might
still be figuring out.
You need this pause.
I'm not going to tell youeverything happens for a reason.
That's garbage.
I'm not going to tell you to begrateful when everything's

(00:42):
falling apart.
How can you be grateful whenyour world is on fire?
I'm not going to tell you thatpositive thoughts will fix
what's heavy right now.
They won't.
I'm going to tell you somethingdifferent Feel the pain.
I know many of you may have justjumped and said what?

(01:03):
Yes, feel the pain.
You're allowed to feel exactlywhat you're feeling, without
editing it, without making itpalpable for other people,
without apologizing for it.
That ache in your chest whenyou see other people's highlight
reels.
Valid the bone-deep tirednessthat sleep doesn't touch.

(01:27):
Valid the way sometimes itfeels like you're watching your
own life from the outside.
Valid You're not broken.
You're responding normally toabnormal amounts of pressure.
Your nervous system isn'tbroken.
Abnormal amounts of pressure?

(01:49):
Your nervous system isn'tbroken.
It's dysregulated and you areat over capacity.
Let's get real about what'sactually happening.
You're living through multiplecrises at once Personal ones,
global ones, the ones nobodytalks about.
You're expected to functionlike it's 2019, but it's not
2019.
Your body knows this.

(02:10):
Your nervous system knows this.
The part of you that used tobounce back.
It's tired, not lazy, not weaktired.
And everyone keeps asking howare you?
And you keep saying I'm okay.
Because what's the alternative?
Many of us can't say I'm notokay.

(02:31):
Yet when did crying become notokay?
When did we become a societythat has to fight to be seen in
our dense emotions?
In our dense emotions, you see,when does it feel safe to say
I'm barely holding on, I'mscared most of the time, I don't
recognize myself anymore?

(02:51):
Yeah, that doesn't fit in smalltalk, does it?
Your body is not your enemyright now, even when it feels
like it.
That tight chest that's yourbody trying to protect you, that
exhaustion that's your systemtrying to conserve energy for
survival, that feeling of beingunderwater, that's overwhelm,

(03:13):
not failure.
Your body has been in survivalmode, maybe for weeks, maybe for
months, maybe way longer, it'sbeen scanning for threats,
bracing for impact, trying tokeep you safe in a world that
feels unsafe.
That's not dysfunction.
That's your nervous systemdoing its job.

(03:35):
Yet it's been doing it overtime, without breaks, without
relief, without anyone noticing.
I'm not going to ask you to sitin a lotus pose.
I'm not going to tell you toclear your mind.
Your mind doesn't want to becleared right now.
It wants to be heard.
So let's do this differently.

(03:55):
Right where you are, however,you are put one hand on your
chest, one hand on your belly,not to fix anything, just to
make contact, to say I'm here, Isee you, I feel you.

(04:16):
Now I want you to imagine yournervous system as a smoke
detector.
It's been going off constantly,beeping, warning, alerting, not
because it's broken, becauseit's detecting smoke, real smoke
.
You don't need to turn off thedetector, you need to

(04:38):
acknowledge the fire.
Say this to your body.
I hear you.
You've been trying to keep mesafe.
You've been working so hard,thank you.
Don't try to calm it down,don't try to fix it, just

(05:04):
witness it, the way you'dwitness a friend who's been
running a marathon.
You wouldn't tell them to stopbeing tired, you'd acknowledge
holy shit, you've been running,your body has been running, your
mind has been running, yourheart has been running.

(05:24):
For how long?
Now keep your hands where theyare.
I want you to send your body amessage, not with words, with
intention.

(05:44):
The message is simple you canstop running now, even if it's
just for this moment.
You can stop, feel whatevercomes up Relief, resistance,

(06:09):
nothing at all.
All of it is okay.
Your body might not trust this,yet.
It might think are you sureit's safe?
And you can say this I don'tknow, but you can rest anyway.

(06:30):
Take the deepest breath you'vetaken all day.
I don't know, but you can restanyway.
Take the deepest breath you'vetaken all day.
Not a performative breath, areal one.
And as you exhale, letsomething go.
You don't have to know what,just let your exhale carry

(06:52):
something away.
Here's what I need you to know.
You don't have to be gratefulfor this experience.
You don't have to find thelesson.
See, this is your mind tryingto make meaning and it's doing
its job.
Yet for certain experiences youwon't find the answer.
You will grow from.

(07:14):
This Just depends on how youlean in.
With integration and coming backto the as is of reality, and
that's going to require you tofeel some emotions.
Some days, showing up is heroic.
Some days, staying alive isrevolutionary.
Some days, feeling yourfeelings without numbing them is

(07:40):
the bravest and strongest thingyou'll ever do.
You're not behind in life.
You're not failing at healing.
You're in it, the messy middle,where nothing makes sense and
everything hurts and you have tokeep going anyway.
You know what helps the truth,naming what's actually happening

(08:03):
.
Saying this is hard, this isreally fucking hard.
What helps is boundaries,saying I can't take on anything
else right now.
What helps is remembering thatyour capacity isn't infinite,
that having limits doesn't makeyou weak, that saying no is

(08:25):
sometimes the most loving thingyou can do for yourself and
others.
The world is going to keepasking you to be strong, to
bounce back, to be resilient, tofind the silver lining.
You don't owe anyone yourresilience.
You don't owe anyone yoursilver lining.
You don't owe anyone yourokayness.

(08:49):
What you owe yourself is truthand tenderness and the radical
act of not abandoning yourselfwhen everything else feels
abandoned.
If someone in your life needs tohear this, if someone you know
is also drowning whilepretending to swim, share this,

(09:12):
not because misery loves company, but because isolation is the
real enemy and sometimes themost healing thing we can hear
is you're not the only one.
Let your healing be out loud.
You're going to make it throughthis, not because everything

(09:34):
happens for a reason, notbecause you're strong enough,
because you're here, stillbreathing, still trying, still
human, and that's more thanenough.
Feel everything, trust nothinghas to be different than it is
right now.

(09:54):
I've been through hell manytimes and I'm still here.
Please remember to be kind andgentle with yourself.
You matter.
Your healing matters.
Your joy and peace matter.
Hey, you made it all the wayhere.

(10:14):
I appreciate you and your time.
If you found value in thisconversation, please share it
out.
If there was somebody thatpopped into your mind, take
action and share it out withthem.
It possibly may not be themthat will benefit.
It's that they know somebodythat will benefit from listening
to this conversation.

(10:34):
So please take action and shareout the podcast.
So please take action and shareout the podcast.
You can find us on social media, on Facebook, instagram and
TikTok under Lift One Self, andif you want to inquire about the
work that I do and the servicesthat I provide to people, come
over on my website.
Come into a discovery, callliftSelfcom.

(10:58):
Until next time, pleaseremember to be kind and gentle
with yourself.
You matter.