My Productivity Crashed the Other Day (and How I Beat the Brain Fog)

Hiya Gorgeous! 

The other day, I was having a really hard time focusing. 

There were plenty of things on my task list, but even after sitting at my computer for an hour I was having a difficult time making progress.

I felt antsy and distracted. 

I felt critical of my own efforts and the (very normal) messages I was getting from the people around me. And worse, I felt doubly irritated by my own lack of progress. A wall of brain fog was smothering my creativity—and it wasn’t about to leave.

I could see the minutes ticking by but just couldn’t seem to get back on track.

Have you ever been there? When your energy and productivity are in a free-fall, it’s never fun.

I thought the answer might be in a bag of chips, so I made my way to the kitchen. Thankfully, something better happened there. Standing in the sunlight and taking a few deep breaths, a wave of emotion suddenly hit me.

Before I knew it, there were tears in my eyes and I was talking myself through something that had nothing to do with work: Some big feelings that had arisen for me a few days before. I hadn’t even realized I was holding them back… but I was. 

It took a few unguarded moments in the kitchen, but those feelings were finally able to surface and I was able to self-soothe and navigate my way through them. I returned to my laptop with a clear head and heart. 

Suddenly, the work that felt impossible 15 minutes before felt easy. 

That’s the power of doing business with our emotions instead of burying them.

You see, your body, mind and spirit are all inextricably linked. When you shove down a feeling, it’s not really gone—you’ve just sent it out of your consciousness and into your body. It comes back as a knot in your stomach, tightness in your jaw, or the charming sluggishness and irritability that paid me a visit.

Avoiding tough feelings—being emotionally unavailable to ourselves—drains our energy more than experiencing them. It may not feel that way, but when you’re stuck it’s hard to have perspective. 

Most of us don’t want to feel tough feelings, but what doesn’t come out one way, comes out another. 

But you can do this work. In fact, the life you want to live is on the other side of it. 

So remember, if you feel foggy and unfocused, like a deflated balloon—your productivity problems may actually be coming from the inside.

Now I’d love to hear from you, friend. What’s your favorite way to release big feelings that are blocking your progress? Share it with us in the comments.

Stop holding back the wave of your emotions. Trust and let yourself feel. 

With all my love,