173. Chaos to calm

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Hello, darling heart, and welcome to this episode of the drink less, live better podcast.

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This is the podcast that helps you to see that drinking less doesn't need to be stressful, boring, or lonely.

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I'm your host, Sarah Williamson, and I decided to have a year alcohol free as a little life experiment and haven't looked back.

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I'm a best selling author, expert speaker, and life coach.

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I'm here to support you with your alcohol free or drink less adventures.

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Give me a follow on Instagram at drink less, live better, and head to the website, drink less, live better.com, where you

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will be able to sign up to the 5 day drink less experiment, find blog posts, and you can choose to join the email club where

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I share resources, wisdom, insights, and glimmers of hope and joy. I hope you enjoy this episode. Let's get straight to it. From chaos to calm. Okay.

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You you over there, the one juggling a career, family, social life, and possibly a side hustle selling handmade crafts on

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Etsy because, apparently, sleep is for when you're dead.

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Let's look at the art of mental decluttering.

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Let's decide what we really really do need to focus on and what we don't to be able to move from the chaos into the calm.

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Picture your mind as that junk drawer everybody has in their kitchen.

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You know the one, and it's full of elastic bands, paper clips, random keys, you don't know what they open, and at least 3

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Allen keys from long forgotten, probably no longer even owned, Ikea furniture.

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Your thoughts are like that drawer, crammed with worries, to do lists, and that embarrassing thing you said or did at a wedding in 2017.

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It's time for a clear out of that draw, your mind.

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Start by doing a bit of a thought audit.

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Set aside 10 minutes in the morning to write down everything that's swirling around in your head. No judgement. No censor censorship. Just let it all out.

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And once it's on paper, ask yourself, is this thought actually serving a purpose?

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Can I do something about this right now, or do I want to?

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Mark out your thoughts as ideas, worries, and to dos.

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Will these matter in a week, a month, or a year from now?

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The ideas that you may want to action, make sure you file them.

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The worries that you have, give them some attention, and the to dos, rate them as either urgent, important, to delegate, or

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to delete, and then decide which one of them you actually do, want to do, or need to do.

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Let's all start to cultivate our so what superpower.

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The next time you find yourself spiralling into a vortex of worry, channel your inner teenager and ask, so what?

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What if I mess up this presentation? So what?

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You'll learn from it and do better next time.

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What if I don't get that promotion? So what?

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Maybe there's an even better opportunity round the corner.

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What if I don't want to go to the pub for my birthday night out like my friends said we were going to? So what?

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Your friends will either understand or they won't.

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The so what technique isn't about dismissing our concerns, it's about putting them in perspective and then taking the power away from them.

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It's amazing how often the answer to so what is actually not very much really.

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And what about future tripping and past thinking?

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Our minds love a bit of time travel.

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We're experts at replaying past events or fast forwarding to future worries, but the only moment we can actually peacefully be in is right now.

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Right now is not based upon predictions, it's based in reality.

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Try this idea: set an alarm on your phone to go off randomly throughout the day.

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When it does, stop and ask yourself, where am I right now? What am I doing? What am I thinking about?

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Am I being a human or am I doing a human?

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Am I focused on stillness or tasks?

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This little exercise brings you back to the present moment.

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It's like hitting the reset button on your brain several times during the day, and here's a cheeky little secret.

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The present moment is usually pretty much okay.

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Of course, you might be stuck in traffic or in a boring meeting, but are you safe?

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Breathing, not being chased by a wolf? Then good. Congratulations.

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Things are probably relatively alright in this moment.

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By training your mind to focus on the present, you're giving it less opportunity to create chaos.

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It's hard to worry about tomorrow when you are fully engaged in today.

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So there you have it, my fabulous, frazzled friend.

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Shifting from chaos to calm is not about achieving perfection.

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It's about making some progress in this area.

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It's about finding ourselves mindfully present and knowing that right now we are okay. I'm okay. You're okay. All is well. Thank you for listening in today.

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Don't forget to give me a follow on Instagram at drinklesslivebetter. And PS, I believe in you.