[00:00:00] Welcome to Your Creative Chord podcast, where host Jenny Leigh Hodgins, author and educator, shares unique insights dedicated to empowering your creative flow and inspired living. Through solo reflections and dialogues with creators and wellness experts, Jenny Leigh shares holistic wisdom influenced by her Buddhist practice, alongside poetic insights and practical strategies for living authentically.
This podcast helps you overcome challenges and unlock your full creative potential.
Welcome back to Your Creative Chord podcast. I'm Jenny Leigh Hodgins, creative empowerment coach and host of Your Creative Chord podcast. This is episode 93, Small Shifts That Rewire Overwhelm, Part 2. In part one of this series, we explored how burnout recovery, creative block, and nervous system healing are interconnected, and how small, gentle shifts are often what create the most sustainable change.
We ended part one with my suggestion to practice the pause. That one small interruption before automatically overextending, before saying yes impulsively, before fixing, before reacting, before taking on one more responsibility. That pause creates enough space to ask yourself, "Do I really have the capacity for this right now?
What am I saying no to by saying yes to this? I mean, am I giving up something I value? Do I have the wholeheartedness for this right now?" Practicing that small pause is one of the most important nervous system practices in my own life. That pause or rest is enough to interrupt compulsive habits of overextension.
Starting with that small shift for a pause to breathe, take a short walk, pray or journal about it, or sleep on it even, before responding, is a great practice for retraining yourself to stay in your lane. Stay in your lane is the S of my RESET framework, the S in RESET. The pause can be enough to remind yourself of where your lane is and to stop the overextension habit, to be certain your next move or action is within your capacity.
Beyond the short pause, practicing regular rest, stillness, quiet, or what I sometimes call time on the shelf, is also nervous system repair. And I've learned through my own life as a creator, leader, and from working with others over many years, that creativity has a rhythm. It has an ebb and a flow. It is not just productive output.
Creativity needs the ebb as much as the flow. So taking time on the shelf is the ebb of creative restoration so that flow can sustainably happen, and so that you have the wherewithal to set and maintain healthy boundaries. I know now that boundaries are not just emotional regulation, they're also physiological protection.
When I set a boundary or deal with navigating the backlash of boundary setting, I practice releasing the need to manage the reactions of others by staying in my lane. This is about focusing on healthy boundaries and protecting your energy so you can be your best self. I've learned that the outcome will be what the outcome will be.
I have no control over that. My responsibility is my response, not someone else's interpretation, reaction, timeline, or emotional process. So when I feel triggered, I practice my RESET framework so that I no longer immediately start fixing or pushing through anymore. Instead, I start with self-regulation.
Pause Breathe. Take a short walk. Intentional spaciousness. Get outside for nature immersion, or go to a coffee shop or a bookstore or the farmers market. [00:05:00] Pray or chant or journal about it. Express myself creatively through music, poetry, or nature photography. Reach out for support if needed. I call a friend who I feel safe with, or I talk to my therapist.
These are how I practice aligning decisions with clarity instead of urgency or a compulsive habit of over-functioning Practicing this is usually pretty ordinary and basic. For example, I'll give you a, a sneak peek into my own life. It may look like how, and usually it's when I'm finally trying to wind down for sleep at night, my thoughts start rolling in my head about multiple caregiving stressors, our busy wellness appointment schedule, my consistent business responsibilities, my podcast production deadlines, speaking engagements, client work, or just the accumulation of all of it together.
It's that sudden onslaught of all of my worries just pounding me at once, just when I'm set to go to sleep. I mean, that's typically how my anxiety and hypervigilance are triggered. My brain starts scanning with anxiety and doubts about, uh, my senior mother's wellness, my never-ending business tasks, my financial goals, my entire future, and what about this unresolved thing or that thing, or let me just make up another thing that's not even a real problem.
When that rising feeling of anxiety or doom hits me, I now consciously remind myself, this is my hypervigilance pattern. This does not need solving right now. I mean, I literally say things to myself like, "I am safe right now. This is my compulsive habit trying to protect me, but it is not necessary right now.
Rest is restoration. Rest equals productivity. No action is required of me right now. Rest is the best strategy right now." Or I may remind myself, since I'm an SGI Buddhist, I can chant about this tomorrow morning. I can journal about this tomorrow. I can think about it during my morning walk, but right now my only responsibility is rest.
Labeling those thoughts as my old hypervigilance gives me space from it, and that simple separation helps me stop treating every anxious thought like it's a crisis. Labeling my thoughts is my first step to disengage from those thoughts. Another way I regulate and calm myself when triggered is by placing my hand on my chest or my belly while slowly breathing in four counts and out for six through pursed lips like you're breathing out through a straw.
So let's do that together. For example, breathe in for four counts through your nose
Breathe out slowly for six counts like you're blowing through a pretend straw
So in for four counts through your nose and breathing out for four counts like you're blowing through a pretend straw. Let's do it again
And so I just repeat that breathing cycle. If I feel anxious, I also sometimes might quietly chant to calm my nervous system enough to fall asleep instead of, again, mentally spiraling. And if you don't know what chanting is, it's the basis of my SGI Buddhist philosophy and practice. And though it is vastly more profound at its most basic physiologically, it's a kind of vocal meditation and breathwork, which research proves helps settle the nervous system, much like singing does.
These are ways that I personally treat regular rest as a scheduled operating mode, and I have quotation marks around "scheduled operating mode," not a reward or an exception. I remind myself that my rest is a required system function. Again, quotation marks, "required system function." This proactive labeling really helps my mind have less room to debate whether it's allowed, whether my rest is allowed.
And additionally, my nightly wind-down routine is already an intentional part of my personal regulation practice. For example, most nights I will take a hot shower after a restorative yoga session because the stretching, the [00:10:00] warmth, and the healing impact of water helps relax my muscles, and it signals to my nervous system that it is time to downshift I also then do a few gentle stretches afterward, and I wind down to sleep while listening to fiction or poetry on a timer.
Not self-help, not productivity, not information intake, just enough attention redirection to help my system settle instead of continuing compulsive rumination. And these are not perfect wellness routines. These are just small, repeated, self-compassionate nervous system routines gently woven into my daily life.
And this is also why, by the way, I mentioned the work of Dr. Rachel Goldman in episode ninety-two, part one of this series, and I'll link her work again in the show notes. What I appreciate about Dr. Goldman is not simply her impressive credentials, it's that her body of research and her work validates and reinforces what I've already built experientially into my reset framework, keys to nurture creativity, and my creative exploration formula inside my creative empowerment coaching program.
And all of my digital products and even my freebies are based on this, um, pillar, these three pillars. So it's great to have clinical and scientific proof backing what I'm already practicing and what I've already been teaching for years. And the core idea of my approach is not intensity. It is not dramatic life overhauls.
It's not perfection or hustle or productivity hacks. The core idea is about small, manageable, self-compassionate shifts practiced repeatedly over time as a sustainable rhythm of living your daily life. Because I've learned that nervous systems do not respond sustainably to pressure or intensity. They respond far better to self-compassion, simplicity, gentle pacing Emotional safety, supportive routines, and repeated experiences of regulation.
And I've learned, and I'm still practicing actively, proactively, that settling a nervous system accustomed to hypervigilance and overextension, enabling, you know, people-pleasing, this requires a layering of gentle practices like sensory downshifting, for example, my nightly shower. Nervous system regulation, like my walks, my spiritual practice, my quiet breakfast routine, time in nature, et cetera.
Emotional safety, sharing only with others I feel safe to be vulnerable with. Reduced stimulation, not looking at my phone until after my morning routine, taking mini breaks during the workday and embracing silence. Supportive routines, like some of these I've just described. Body awareness, that could be like breathing, feeling where my tension exists.
And lastly, permission to not constantly perform or produce. And remembering rest equals productivity. Rest equals creativity. Embracing these practices of self-care is a significant part of my strategy for an inspired life. 'Cause self-care is not just the occasional massage or spa day. It's protecting autonomy.
It's allowing quiet and space. It's rebuilding joy with what nourishes you. It's making room for stillness and spaciousness. It's reintroducing beauty, friendship, creativity, playfulness, nature, and real rest back into your life after years of survival mode living. Gently, intentionally, one small shift at a time And as I mentioned in episode 92, when you have lived in chronic responsibility, hypervigilance, over-functioning, caregiving stress, or burnout for years, stillness can initially feel uncomfortable simply because your system is not accustomed to it.
Your nervous system can interpret slowing down [00:15:00] as something is wrong, quote unquote, simply because it feels unfamiliar. And that's why I now practice relabeling and postponing my stress thoughts at night, and I label them clearly like, "This is not truth. Not an emergency. Not necessary now. It's just stress residue, just my hypervigilance keeping my nervous system on alert."
And then I calmly redirect my attention back to breathing or back to chanting or back to the stretch or back to the book, back to rest So let's pause here for a few reflection prompts. When do you feel safest and most grounded? Spend a few moments imagining that with all your senses involved
What kinds of things genuinely nurture you? I mean, what activities help you feel lighter, calmer, more spacious, or more connected to yourself? Let's spend a few moments imagining how these make you feel
What does true restoration actually feel like in your body? And if you're stuck on that one like I might be, what do you imagine true restoration would feel like in your body? Spend a moment imagining that
If you're like me and anxiety tends to emerge when you finally become still, maybe gently ask yourself, "Is this an actual crisis right now, this second? Or is this my nervous system simply not accustomed to winding down?" Sometimes simply naming that pattern can help separate you from it And if needed, remind yourself, "I can return to this tomorrow.
I can pray about this tomorrow," or, "I can journal about this tomorrow," or, "I can work it out through movement or time in nature tomorrow." But right now, rest is the wisest action, and it is a system function requirement
So remember that overextension at your own expense is not alignment. It's just a habit And when your system feels activated, whether it's at night or otherwise, you could ask yourself, "What do I actually need right now?"
Do I need slower intentional breathing? A pause, a walk
A stretch, a cup of tea meditation or a quiet prayer
Creative practice like listening to or practicing music or doing art or writing or movement? Listening to fiction, poetry, or music? Or maybe reading something relaxing? Do I need stillness? Sleep Separately from those nightly regulation practices, I also encourage you to experiment with scheduling one block of restorative time each week that benefits no one else but your system.
No output, no service, no fixing, no productivity requirement, just restoration
As you practice baking those restoration periods into your life more regularly, you may notice your body gradually becoming more familiar with rest instead of fighting it constantly. Your nervous system will learn, "I am allowed to slow down. I am allowed to recover. I do not have to constantly perform to be safe or valuable."
And that's often where sustainable creative flow and inspired [00:20:00] living begin reviving again So if this episode speaks to you, I invite you to download my free Burnout Reset Guide at yourcreativechord.com/burnoutguide. It's a simple starting point if you're noticing overload, burnout patterns, or creative depletion and you want practical ways to begin resettling your nervous system.
And if you'd like deeper, more personalized support, you can apply to work with me at yourcreativechord.com/workwithme. This is my asynchronous creative empowerment coaching program, a space designed for rebuilding your energy, boundaries, and creative flow in a way that actually fits your real life.
I encourage you to notice this week where you can gently pause instead of automatically pushing through Notice where your nervous system may be asking for restoration instead of more pressure. Sometimes the smallest self-compassionate shift is what begins reconnecting us with clarity, aligned energy, and creative flow again. Thank you for listening to Your Creative Chord podcast.
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Remember, daily life is where your creative flow begins. Embrace the journey.
