Overwhelm
and Fern resilience
This is Leaving Death in the Dust, a publication about not giving up on yourself, your purpose, your life, or your body’s ability to recover from illness. It’s about using the abundant, transformative, God given power that you already have inside of you to experience the complete healing of your entire being- body, mind, spirit (soul).
Previously at Leaving Death in the Dust- Filling the Winter Gloom (with SAD light) - by Stephanie Schaible, MT (ASCP)
Overwhelm refers to a state of being emotionally or mentally overpowered, often due to excessive stress or demands. It can manifest as feelings of anxiety, confusion, or an inability to cope with challenges.
~Internet Search Assist
I hope this letter finds you all doing well. I did not write to you in January because it just felt like a good idea to take a break from putting another email in inboxes after what (for many) can be an overwhelming flurry of holiday activity followed by a rush of New Year’s promotions that fills up email inboxes.
My break from newsletter writing was also inspired by a chance meeting I had with an elderly gentleman in the Walmart baking aisle shortly after the New Year. I was wondering what new thing everyone was making with white chocolate chips because there was not one package of them to be found, anywhere. I was trying to get a head start on a Valentines Day surprise, but the absence of white baking chips foiled my plans. The white-haired gentleman in the aisle with me must have sensed a shared level of frustration in my facial expression, so he started up a conversation with me as he pushed his buggy past me and paused to say, “there are too many things in this store.”
He went on to share that his wife of 62 years was at home recovering from cancer treatments that were looking to be about as successful as they could be at this point. However, his work as a professional traveling musician out of Memphis had not prepared him for grocery shopping or the dishpan hands he now lamented over as these were things his wife had obviously taken care of before cancer came into their lives. I had not thought about how overwhelming looking for items on a spouse’s shopping list could be, but there I was relating to his overwhelm since going to IKEA once made me feel something overwhelmingly similar, and I was given a sense of compassion for his frustration in trying to find the items he was supposed to be picking up for his wife.
I am happy to say we were both able to exchange Godly praises about my dad’s recovery from stage 4 cancer and his wife’s good treatment reports before we went back to our shopping business, and I hope our brief baking aisle moment helped him feel less overwhelmed as much as it helped me feel less frustrated about not finding what I thought I was looking for in the baking aisle.
Feeling overwhelmed can be caused by a variety of factors, including excessive workload, major life changes, relationship conflicts, financial issues, and health concerns. ~Internet Search Assist
What do you do when you are feeling overwhelmed?
Can You Do One Enjoyable Thing?
Just a few minutes of finding something enjoyable—connecting with others, music, drawing, or other favorite things—can soothe your sense of being overwhelmed and remind you that not everything is that urgent.
So, I did some pretty enjoyable things in January, and I’m glad that I did.
I also learned some exciting things about the name “Fern” in January, and I’m happy to report my household was well prepared for her, and we experienced minimal disruptions/inconvenience. Our thoughts and prayers are with those who are still waiting on the return of power and water and cleanup and normalcy though.
Dear Winter Storm Fern,
Your name symbolizes natural beauty and resilience, and you have given us quite a mess to recover from, but my crepe myrtles will bloom again.
Resilience isn’t about not falling. It’s about choosing to keep getting back up again.
~Some of my January 26th thoughts
Where I live, winter is still having some icy things to say about the weather, but we have now passed the halfway mark between winter and spring, so this is your annual friendly reminder that those of us who are living in the northern regions of this world will do 6 more weeks until spring officially arrives, no matter what groundhogs have to say about it. The light is returning, the days are getting longer, and soon I will be able to put my SAD light away until winter comes again next year………
What are you looking forward to today? I’m looking forward to the return of day light and longer daylit days, but until then, I’ll keep enjoying some good snuggle time under my soft warm quilt since this cold weather is encouraging it.
I am also very happy to share and leave you with this news -
One of the best text messages ever!
My besties daughter, who is also about 50ish and is a new grandmother, has been given more life to look forward to! 🎉 About a year and a half ago she was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer which spread to her liver.
WoooooHoooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Best Wishes,
Stephanie
The More You Know…….
To learn more about my Leaving Death in the Dust story click here- About, Leaving Death in the Dust
And
Be sure to check out my chronic illness resource library which can be found on the Leaving Death in the Dust Welcome page.
Stephanie Schaible is a former Clinical Laboratory Scientist and online adjunct instructor of Immunohematology (blood banking and transfusion medicine) who has used her curiosity and love of learning to heal and recover from chronic illness. Leaving Death in the Dust is a publication for the sharing of what she has learned. *Anything you learn here is not a replacement for professional healthcare, this is informational and educational only. I am not your healthcare provider and whatever you find here is not to be confused with the establishment of a patient/provider relationship or to be considered as medical advice. **That is an MT behind my name not an MD.
