Tag: BreastCancerAwareness

When Overwhelm Moves Into the Body

What It’s Telling You — and What You Can Do About It

We often think of overwhelm as being “too busy.”
Too many emails. Too many responsibilities. Too much to manage.

But for many of us, overwhelm doesn’t start in the calendar — it starts in the body.

And the truth is, your body always knows before your brain catches up.

What Does Overwhelm Actually Feel Like?

Overwhelm can be quiet or loud, depending on how long it’s been sitting with you.
It may whisper through:

  • Tight shoulders and a clenched jaw
  • Shallow breathing or holding your breath
  • Brain fog, forgetfulness, or decision fatigue
  • Digestive issues or appetite changes
  • A racing heart or sudden wave of anxiety
  • That urgent, irrational need to clean or control something right now

Emotionally, it might feel like:

  • Snapping over small things
  • Numbing out — scrolling, zoning out, overworking
  • Feeling heavy, unmotivated, or disconnected from your voice
  • Crying over “nothing” and then feeling shame for it

If any of this sounds familiar, I want you to know — you’re not broken.
You’ve just been carrying too much, for too long, without enough support.

When the Body Speaks Louder Than Words

A Personal Story

In 2016, I was diagnosed with breast cancer.

At the time, I was in a relationship with a man I loved deeply — someone who struggled with alcoholism. For years, I stayed. I tried. I hoped. I believed that if I loved him hard enough, he’d eventually choose healing.

He didn’t.

He refused to change his life, and I didn’t know how much of his emotional weight I was carrying until it was embedded in my own cells.

It wasn’t until after we ended the relationship — and two years later, after his death — that I discovered he had been living with deep, unspoken trauma. Trauma I didn’t know about. Trauma that shaped him… and shaped the environment I had been living in.

And here’s what I’ve come to understand:

My body held what my heart couldn’t express.

The grief.
The guilt.
The emotional labour of loving someone who couldn’t meet me in the middle.

That diagnosis — though terrifying — became the catalyst for me to stop ignoring my needs and start listening to what my body had been trying to tell me for years. Decades even.

This is the work I now support others with — because overwhelm doesn’t always look like chaos.
Sometimes it looks like quietly surviving.

Coaching vs. Therapy: What’s the Difference?

This is an important distinction — and one I speak about openly with clients.

Therapy focuses on healing past wounds, mental health, and trauma. It’s clinically grounded, and often addresses the why behind what’s showing up.

Coaching is future- and action-oriented. It’s for people who are generally functioning — but feeling stuck, overwhelmed, or unclear. Coaching helps you reconnect to your body, shift patterns, and move ahead with grounded support.

One is not better than the other. Sometimes people do both — and sometimes one naturally leads to the other.

Your well-being is always my priority, and I support you in whatever path feels right for you.

How I Support Clients Through Overwhelm

My coaching work is rooted in the belief that you already hold wisdom. I simply help you hear it again. You already hold wisdom. I simply help you hear it again.

Here’s what that looks like:

1. We bring awareness to what’s real

We name what you’re feeling — physically, emotionally, energetically. We uncover the patterns and get honest about what you’ve been carrying (and why). No judgment. Just space.

2. We reconnect you to your inner cues

Overwhelm disconnects you from your body’s signals. I help you slow down, listen in, and rebuild trust in your own voice.

3. We create simple, grounded next steps

We work gently but steadily. You’ll leave with clarity, practical tools, and a feeling of momentum — without bypassing what’s hard or forcing toxic positivity.

You don’t need to push harder.
You need support that actually sees you.

From Awareness to Action: What Shows Up First?

Sometimes the first step to clarity is simply noticing.
So let me ask:

When you’re overwhelmed, what shows up first?

Do you feel it in your chest?
Do you get short with people you love?
Do you suddenly crave control, or check out entirely?

Start there.
Name it.
No judgment — just awareness.

You don’t have to fix it all today.
You just have to listen.

Journaling Prompt

Take a moment to reflect and write:

“Where in my body do I first feel overwhelmed, and what is it telling me?”

There’s no right or wrong answer — just your truth.

💬 Ready for Support?

If you’re navigating overwhelm and want gentle, grounded coaching that helps you come home to yourself — I’m here.

🟣 Book a free 30-minute clarity call
This is a no-pressure space. We’ll explore what’s feeling heavy or unclear. We’ll find out whether working together is the right fit.
It’s not a coaching session — it’s a chance to connect, ask questions, and get a sense of what’s possible.

🟣 Learn more about 1:1 coaching with me
🟣 Or send me a message if you’re not sure where to start.

You don’t have to carry it all alone.
Let’s take the first step — together.

The Space Between Breaking Down & Breaking Open

What breast cancer, heartbreak, and healing taught me about surrender, strength, and starting again.

Dear reader,

This isn’t just a story about illness—it’s about what happens when life asks us to stop. About what we discover in the silence, the surrender, and the slow return to ourselves. If you’ve ever carried too much for too long, or quietly unraveled beneath the surface, I hope you find something here that reminds you: you’re not alone.

In 2016, I was diagnosed with breast cancer.

I still remember the silence in the room after the words were said. It was like time fractured—part of me frozen in place, the other part sprinting ahead to everything I might lose. My health, my work, my future.

At the time, I was running my own successful business—coaching, creating, supporting others through their own transformation. I loved it. It felt aligned with who I was and how I moved through the world. But when the diagnosis came, I couldn’t show up in the same way anymore. My energy had to turn inward, toward healing. Toward survival.

There were surgeries. Reconstruction. Five years of treatment. My calendar changed, my relationships shifted, and the identity I had built around doing began to crumble. I had no choice but to surrender—not to the illness itself, but to the truth that I needed to be still, to receive care, to rest.

At the same time, I was also getting out of a toxic relationship with an alcoholic. Navigating recovery as a single woman, while facing cancer treatment, was an immense challenge—one that demanded strength I didn’t know I had. That journey through emotional upheaval and healing deepened my understanding of resilience and self-compassion.

I made the difficult decision to close my business and focus on what my body—and spirit—desperately needed: care, stillness, space. Eventually, I returned to work in healthcare—this time not just as a professional, but as someone deeply changed by what it means to heal. That return led me to my current role supporting teams in building systems of care that are both effective and human-centered.

Then in 2019, I earned my certification as a Life and Wellness Coach with ICF Accreditation. That part of me—the mentor, the guide, the witness—had never truly disappeared. The passion I had once set down began to stir again—quiet at first, then louder. I started to dream about creating something unique and grounded, something that truly spoke to the experiences of women navigating burnout, responsibility, and self-erasure.

And recently, through conversations with women—about overwhelm, emotional labor, identity, and the constant pressure to hold it all together—I realized that what I’d been sitting on wasn’t just knowledge. It was a well of lived experience, insight, and heart—and it was time to share it.

Overwhelm to Opportunity was born.

Not as a slogan. Not as a coaching “niche.” But as a deeply personal invitation—a pathway back to self.

Because breast cancer didn’t just challenge me physically. It stripped everything down to the essentials. It revealed how many of us are operating from depletion. How often we override our needs. How easy it is to lose ourselves in responsibility, care work, and the myth of having it all together.

What I offer now is rooted in that clarity.
It’s for the woman who’s tired of fixing and striving and holding it all.
It’s for the woman who’s ready to soften, realign, and come home to herself.

I know what it feels like to fall apart quietly.
To be strong for everyone else.
To wonder what happens if you finally stop pushing.

And I know what it takes to rebuild—slowly, intentionally, from the inside out.

If you’re in a season of holding it all—or slowly finding your way back to yourself—know that you’re not alone. Overwhelm to Opportunity was born from this very edge: the space between breaking down and breaking open.

This is an invitation—for you to honor your story, to hold space for your healing, and to know that transformation often begins when we stop trying to hold it all together.

🌿 I’d love to hear from you.
If this resonates, feel free to hit reply or leave a comment. And if there’s someone in your life who might need this message, I’d be honored if you shared it with them.

Until next time,
Erika