I’ve noticed a huge pattern from actors when they first start working with me. They are hiding behind confusion, overwhelm, or both.

That may sound a little bit harsh, but it’s the truth. And most of the time I don’t come right out and say it to them in those words, because I’ve found that most of us respond more to nurturing and love than such directness. (I hope you’ll forgive me for cutting to the chase as I really want to help you interrupt this pattern.)

If you yourself are feeling confused or overwhelmed, and perhaps also a little defensive (now that I’ve called this out as a pattern that is protecting you), I want you to pause right now. 

Stop reading and take a deep breath.

That’s right. And now take one more …

How do you feel now?

Maybe a little bit calmer. 

Maybe you can now continue to read ALL the words on your screen rather than skipping ahead and looking for the quick solution somewhere further down this blog post. 😉

Believe me, I get it. 

Unfortunately, there is no quick solution, though we can start to get some relief right away.

Confusion and overwhelm are your body’s response to an overload of information. Of feeling unsafe in some way. Of being triggered, on a micro or macro scale.

And I want you to know, it’s not your fault that you are hiding.

The experience of feeling confused or overwhelmed is very real when it is happening for you.

And that is why it is so important to call it out and start to witness it when it is happening. That is how we begin to change any pattern.

Confusion and overwhelm are our brain’s response to protecting us from feeling or experiencing something in our bodies. That could be an emotion, it could be pain, or it could even be words or a message that you don’t want to hear. 

This reaction of our nervous system, to pull us out of sensing and feeling and into our heads is (mostly) good. 

The response you are having served a really good purpose at some point in your life. And maybe it still does serve a good purpose, sometimes. 

But if you are feeling stuck, that means that you are constantly in a state of freeze or low motility and if you are anything like me, confusion or overwhelm can swing you to the other side of the spectrum where you are so active and your thoughts seem to be moving a mile a minute. 

That’s why even pausing to take a deep breath creates a shift. It slows down your body and provides it with oxygen, which allows some of the stress you are feeling to dissipate.

If you aren’t allowing your stress to dissipate, if you are always in some version of fight or flight, and your body feels overloaded, your mind is going to take over. And that is a place that is very hard to create from.

So if you are feeling confused or overwhelmed, I encourage you to stop, slow down, and breathe as soon as you notice. And before you try to make any decisions to be productive.

If this was helpful, I’d love for you to share any insights or shifts you experienced in the comments below.

And if you’d like to learn one of my body centered techniques that will allow you to resource a relaxed body for insights about what choices are best for you (no more confusion), then join me next week for Activate Joy in Your Creative Life, a free workshop, where we’ll be diving into some outside-of-the-box strategies to help you build real momentum in your career.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Much love,

Natalie