Hello From Katie 💗 I Lost My Sh*t Yesterday (and Other Mental Health Moments)
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Welcome to Meditation for Anxiety. I'm Katie Kramitzos. I'm the creator of the Women's Meditation Network and your guide here. I am so grateful you've taken the time to be here with me right now. This episode is made possible thanks to the generosity of our sponsors. And after a message from them, we'll begin today's episode. If you'd like to listen ad-free, become a premium member by following the link in the show notes.

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How's your heart? How's your mind? How's your body? How's your soul? All month long, we've been sharing special meditations that can support you on your mental health journey. And I hope you remember that they're here all the time. So you can always come back and listen no matter when throughout the year it is. And we've even been sharing other podcasts that we think that you might like for the same reason. I really hope that you've been enjoying them all.

To conclude this month, I thought it would be fun to share a few of my quote-unquote mental health moments from May. How I felt, what happened because of how I felt, and what I did about it. I'm doing this for a few reasons. One, because I want you to know I'm human, and no matter how much I preach about inner peace, alignment, meditation, I'm completely aware that I am perfectly imperfect.

Number two, because I want you to know that you're not alone. All of us experience dark moments and carry heavy stuff. It ain't pretty, but it's purposeful. And I believe it's a part of what carves us into our greatness. Number three, because I want to share helpful tools that perhaps you can use during your own mental health moments.

So what is a mental health moment? I'm completely making this term up, so take it with a grain of salt or use something else that works better for you if you need it. For me, a mental health moment is when the thoughts and emotions within me feel like they're overtaking me, when I feel misaligned, when I feel chaos instead of peace. So here's my mental health moment number one. I felt too rushed and annoyed on vacation.

I am a doer. Like, I get shit done. I don't like waiting around or contemplating options for too long. Which means that when we go on family vacations, either alone or with friends, I am the travel agent. And as you can imagine, this comes with a lot of pros and a lot of cons. The ultimate downside is that I can feel overwhelmed fast during a time when I'm supposed to be relaxing.

I can busy myself with the logistics of what we're doing on vacation, what excursions we're signing up for, where we're eating. You get the point. Last week, we went to the Florida Keys with some friends. A few days into the trip, I hit the wall of overwhelm and I found myself in a mental health moment. The signs? I was annoyed, tired, and cranky. I found myself barking at my husband for no reason. So what did I do?

Thankfully, my husband is incredible and could see the mood I was in. So one morning, he gently suggested that he and I go on a walk on the Seven Mile Bridge. He knew I loved running there and that being out with him on the water would be healing. For the first few minutes, we walked and talked. And then I just ran. I ran for miles until I couldn't run anymore. I felt the catharsis of the sweat melt all the thoughts and emotions away.

And once I was done, I felt cleansed, renewed, and refreshed. The tools here? Movement, sweating, and nature. Mental health moment number two. I am seriously stressing about the summer. Today is my girl's last day of school. And in years past, I've had a good mix of summer camps, playdates, vacations, and time with family that would provide some sort of childcare so I could have time to do my work.

Last summer, however, my kids vehemently rejected summer camps. That's a story for another time. So this summer, I have one week of camp scheduled. Then it's Camp Kermitsos, basically a week-long playdate with friends. And then the abyss of summer. I like schedules. I like routine. So I gotta say that I've been feeling stress and anxiety bubble up inside of me when it comes to this impending summer.

So what do I do? When I feel these feelings rise up, I usually do three things. One, I do my best to make plans so I know what I can rely on. For example, solidifying that our friend can do her own playdate camp during another week of the summer. Number two, I communicate with the hubs, preparing him for the support I'm going to need. He, ironically, is the exact opposite of me and does not like schedules and routines. And number three...

I let it go and trust that everything will work out just fine. I will find my time. I will have the support I need. And I let go of trying to control all the pieces. This is very hard for me to do. How about you? That's where my meditation practice comes in. Lately, that's been looking like early mornings, sitting with my coffee on my lap while closing my eyes before the kids wake up. Sometimes for 10 minutes, sometimes for an hour.

The more I do this, the easier it becomes to let go of the stress and surrender to the new rhythm of life that begins tomorrow. My tools here, asking for the support that I need and meditation. All right, my last mental health moment. I lost my shit yesterday. Let's talk about the lack of sleep for a second. I love getting up early and I usually stay up late.

Add that up over time, including a vacation in there, and that equals a woman who is super exhausted. I was pretty much delirious with tiredness yesterday, and by bedtime, that meant that I was spiky and cranky. I yelled at my kids. I yelled at my husband. I was not fun to be around. My daughter even made a video on my phone telling me how mean everyone's being to her and that she thinks I don't like her.

Ah, the apologies and repairs and hugs that happened today. So what did I do? I let my kids watch TV after school. I asked my friend who's visiting to cook dinner for everyone. I asked my husband to put the kids down to sleep. And I went to sleep early and listened to a sleep meditation. This morning, I did all the apologizing to my husband, to each of my girls, and to my

I hugged my little one extra tight and asked for forgiveness and promised myself I'd do the best to go to bed earlier tonight. When exhaustion takes over, the emotions and thoughts we think are us are really just our bodies desperately needing rest. My tools here, sleep meditations. Remember, we have a few different podcasts that provide sleep meditations, including Sleep Meditation for Women. Apologies.

forgiveness for ourselves and for others, and possibly even shifting sleep schedules. I hope that when your mental health moments come about, you can use some of these tools to move through them, to remember who you are and get yourself back into alignment. Big, big hugs today, beautiful. Namaste.