Tag: Overwhelm Recovery

You Don’t Have to Hold It All Alone

Hello lovely ladies,

There’s a story many of us carry — the story that says we have to hold everything together all by ourselves.

That the weight of responsibility, of care, of emotional labor, is ours alone to bear.

I remember a time not long ago when I felt that way myself. I was juggling so much—family needs, work pressures, and my own emotions—but I kept telling myself, “I have to do this on my own.” Asking for help felt like failure. But slowly, I realized that carrying everything alone was only making me more exhausted and distant from myself.

What if that’s not true?

What if, instead of carrying it alone, you could begin to share the load?

What if asking for help wasn’t a sign of weakness — but a radical act of courage and self-love?

The myth of solo strength

From early on, many of us are taught to be strong — to manage on our own, to push through, to not “burden” others.

It can feel like if we let go, everything will fall apart.

But in reality, holding everything inside isolates us. It drains our energy and dims our light.

True strength isn’t about doing it all alone.

True strength is knowing when to reach out.

Sharing the load starts with small steps

You don’t have to wait until the mountain feels insurmountable to ask for support.

It can be as simple as saying:

  • “I need a moment to breathe.”
  • “Can you help me with this?”
  • “I’m feeling overwhelmed today.”

Every time you share your truth, you give others permission to step in — and to be human, too.

You are not alone

Remember: you are part of a community, a circle, a web of connection.

You don’t have to do this on your own.

You don’t have to be the only one holding the pieces.

If you’re tired of carrying invisible weight alone, take a breath — and begin to lean in.

A gentle invitation

If you’re feeling stretched thin, remember my Overwhelm Reset — a gentle 3-day email experience.

You don’t have to carry it all alone.

Support is here — and you deserve it.

👉 Join the Overwhelm Reset

With love,

Erika

© Erika Patterson Coaching 2025. All rights reserved.

The Invisible Work We Never Get Credit For

Hello lovelies,

This week, I want to name something that often goes unseen:

The invisible work you carry.

The emotional labor, the mental load, the checking in and showing up — even when no one notices.

You might not get applause for the patience it takes to hold space for someone else’s anger.

No one’s keeping score of how many times you’ve swallowed your own needs to keep the peace.

There are no thank-you notes for the sleepless nights, the inner negotiations, or the relentless inner voice saying “just push through.”

But I see it.

And more importantly, I want you to see it.

This invisible work is real.

And it’s not “just what women do.”

It’s labor. It’s energy. It’s value.

But the cost of carrying it alone, quietly, and endlessly — is often burnout, resentment, or the haunting feeling that your life is full but somehow not your own.

What if you gave yourself credit for the unseen?

What if you paused, even briefly, to acknowledge all the energy you spend keeping things afloat?

This week, I invite you to make the invisible visible.

Not for validation from others — but as a radical act of self-respect.

You deserve to be witnessed.

And sometimes, that witnessing begins with you.

Want to go deeper?

If you’re noticing signs of chronic overwhelm or depletion, I’ve created The Overwhelm Reset.

  • 💌 A gentle 3-day email experience: Receive a short reflection and prompt each day to help you reconnect with your calm.

👉 Your reset is ready for your here — your well-being is worth the pause

© Erika Patterson Coaching 2025. All rights reserved.

📢 Ready to Move From Chaos to Clarity?

You don’t have to stay stuck in the spin.

If you’ve been feeling pulled in too many directions, it’s time to pause. Maybe your inner voice has gone quiet. You’re constantly pouring into others with little left for yourself. This is your invitation to stop and reflect.

This week, we’ve been exploring the shift from chaos to clarity.

And while clarity can sound like a far-off destination, it’s often something we return to—not something we chase.
It doesn’t require perfection.
It just asks for presence.

If this theme has stirred something in you…
If you’re craving space to breathe, reset, and reconnect with you…

Here’s where you can begin:

💌 Send me a message with the word “CLARITY”—I’d love to hold space for whatever you’re navigating.
📖 Or visit The Opportunity Journal. It is a simple but powerful reflection practice. This practice can help you move from overwhelm to grounded intention. [Insert link]

Clarity might not come in a lightning bolt.
But it does come.
One breath, one truth, one soft return at a time.

🕊️
With love,
Erika

Awareness as the Path to Clarity

No matter how you responded—whether you dive into doing, distract yourself, or completely shut down—just know this:

There’s no wrong answer. There’s only awareness.
And awareness is the first step toward clarity.

This week is all about moving from chaos to clarity.
That doesn’t happen by force—it happens by noticing, by choosing something different one moment at a time.

You don’t have to change overnight.
You just have to choose again, when you’re ready.

💬 Feel free to share more in the comments—your insights might help someone else feel seen too.

🕊️
With love,
Erika

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✨ FROM CHAOS TO CLARITY

Even the Storms Teach Us

This week, I’m diving into a theme that feels especially tender and true:
From Chaos to Clarity.

There was a time I thought chaos was something I had to fight, organize, or fix.

But what I’ve come to learn—sometimes the hard way—is that chaos isn’t always the enemy. Sometimes it’s the invitation.
The pause.
The whisper that says, “This version of you isn’t meant to continue.”

Life can feel overwhelming when the pieces don’t seem to fit. It feels this way when everything is loud and nothing feels certain. Often, these feelings occur because something deeper is trying to emerge.
Clarity doesn’t come from tightening our grip.
It comes when we soften.

I used to spin in circles, trying to do my way into peace.
Now? I breathe.
I journal.
I listen.
I surrender to the not-knowing, and in that space… clarity begins to rise.

🌀 If you’re standing in the middle of chaos, I want you to hear this:
You’re not broken.
You’re becoming.
And you’re not alone.

💬 What has chaos taught you recently? I’d love to hear in the comments.

🕊️
With love,
Erika

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She Wasn’t Handed a Damn Thing—But She’s Still Rising

Some women are handed a map.


She had to carve the path with her own two hands.

She wasn’t handed peace.
Or protection.
Or an easy out.

Life threw its punches—
and she took them.

She spit out the blood.
Swallowed the tears.
And kept going.

Her story?
It’s not tidy.
It’s not a highlight reel.
It’s full of heartbreak and hard choices,
shaky hands and sleepless nights,
moments where her spirit whispered, “I can’t,”
but her feet kept moving anyway.

This—
this is what resilience really looks like.

It’s not polished.
It’s not Instagram-worthy.
It’s not wrapped in daily affirmations or curated vision boards.

It’s raw.
It’s real.
It’s getting up again—when no one even knows how hard it was to open your eyes that morning.

If this is you… welcome.

You’re not broken.
You’re not behind.
You are not too much, and you are certainly not not enough.

You are a woman who’s been surviving in a world that hasn’t made it easy.
But you’re here now.

Not just to survive—
but to rise.

Not because you’re done being tired,
but because some part of you—
maybe a tiny, trembling part—
still hopes there’s more than just this.

And there is.

There’s a version of you…

Who knows how to breathe again.
Who trusts her own voice.
Who says no without guilt and yes without fear.
Who sees overwhelm not as her identity,
but as a signal—
a whisper that something needs to shift,
and that she is allowed to shift with it.

This isn’t about pretending life isn’t hard.
It’s about meeting that hard with gentleness
and finally asking:

“What if I don’t have to do this alone anymore?”

You don’t. Not now. Not here.

This is your invitation:
To lay down the weight.
To catch your breath.
To remember who the hell you are underneath the exhaustion.

You are not too late.
You are not too far gone.
You are not broken beyond repair.

You are a phoenix.

And this?
This isn’t your ending.

This is your rise.

Recognizing Overwhelm: Signs and Solutions

Overwhelm doesn’t just live in your mind — it lands in your body.

It can show up as:
• Tight shoulders or a stiff jaw
• A racing heart or shallow breath
• A sudden headache or wave of fatigue
• A knotted stomach or loss of appetite
• Sleepless nights or restless energy
• That urge to clean everything right now

When you’re overwhelmed, what shows up first?

Do you feel tightness in your chest?
Do you get snappy, numb out, or suddenly need to organize everything?

Drop a comment and name it — no judgment, just awareness.

🫶 Sometimes the first step to clarity is simply noticing.

Leave a comment

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.

From Overwhelm to Opportunity: My Journey and Why I’m Here to Help

Have you ever felt like you’re just barely holding it together? Like the weight of life keeps piling on, and you don’t know where to find the strength to keep going?

That was me — decades ago, juggling the chaos of raising three incredible daughters on my own. My oldest has cerebral palsy, which meant countless doctors’ appointments and therapies, while I made sure her sisters never felt invisible. I showed up to every ballet recital, gymnastics meet, and school event — even when I was utterly exhausted.

At the same time, I was working full-time and going to university, trying to keep us afloat. Some days, it felt like I was barely surviving.

But the challenges weren’t just physical. I was healing from surviving an abusive relationship that tried to steal my voice and my self-worth. Finding my way out of that darkness was terrifying and freeing all at once — it was the moment I truly chose myself.

In 2016, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. That diagnosis shook me to my core, forcing me to stop and reflect on what really matters. It showed me the power of resilience and grace — and that strength doesn’t mean doing it all alone. It means asking for help and allowing yourself to heal.

For years, people encouraged me to become a coach. They saw the strength and heart I carried. But it took me time to say yes — scared but hopeful, unsure but ready. When I finally took that step, everything fell into place. Coaching isn’t just what I do; it’s who I am.

Since then, I’ve had the privilege of supporting women from all walks of life: executives balancing high-pressure careers and family, caregivers devoted to their loved ones, single moms holding down the fort alone, survivors reclaiming their power, and women simply striving for balance in a busy world.

Each story is different, but the overwhelm and the longing for peace is something we all share. Their courage inspires me every day — and reminds me why this work matters so deeply.

You deserve support. You deserve space. You deserve to come home to yourself.

If this story speaks to you, know you are not alone. Whether you’re overwhelmed, uncertain, or just craving clarity, I’m here to walk alongside you.

Ready to take that next step? I invite you to explore my services or book a free 60-minute Clarity Call. Let’s walk this path together.