Episode 550: 5 Steps to Getting Through Turbulent Times (Mindset & Self-Care)

EBT550 – 5 Steps to Getting Through Turbulent Times

Intro  00:01

Hey food bloggers. Thank you so much for joining me in this mindset and self-care focused episode here on Eat Blog Talk. One of the reasons I started a blog talk was to hold a space to talk about the importance of mindset and self-care. Being an entrepreneur can be a lot. If we are not taking care of ourselves, then getting actionable information about SEO Pinterest or whatever else is all moot. I will meet you back here every Wednesday to discuss various mindset and self-care topics. So you have the energy and space to tackle the rest.

Sponsor (Ella Gilbert ) 00:37

Hi, food bloggers, its Ella from Alpine Ella. Picture this food photography and blog posts without the hassle. That’s where I come in. I offer food photography and blog post writing services tailored just for you. Email me at [email protected]. And let’s chat about how I can bring value to your business.

Megan Porta  00:57

Hello food bloggers Welcome to this self care and mindset focused episode of Eat Blog Talk. So happy to have you here today. In this episode, we’re going to talk about five steps to getting through turbulent times. A word that has been coming up for me a lot recently is turbulence. I can be flying smoothly through life when all of a sudden turbulence strikes. A sudden jolt sends me into a panic and throws everything flying through the air around me. I mentioned in a recent episode that I have been recently experiencing burnout, along with burnout has come the need to slow down I’ve just felt that need from inside my soul to take it easy and just move through life and my business a little more slowly right now. And along with that need to slow down comes getting behind on some things, I feel like there’s work that I just haven’t been able to keep up with like I normally do. And that bleeds over into life, there are calls I need to make and there are appointments, I need to schedule. And there are things in my house that I’ve just been putting off because everything else has had to slow down. So managing how I react to the turbulence for me that is burnout has felt really hard at times over the past few weeks. Because it just drains me like all around, I feel depleted, I feel overwhelmed. I feel tired a lot of the time. And this can look very different for you. So your turbulence right now might not be burnout, I hope it’s not. Food blogging, in general is an intense job. As you know, it has many moving parts. Things change all the time. And this year in particular feels extra turbulent for us food bloggers. It is unfortunately, fairly easy to experience turbulence in our jobs from time to time. Whether it’s during about burnout, like myself, or just after taking time off, maybe you’ve taken a vacation recently, maybe you’ve gotten sick recently. Or maybe you’re just in the middle of dealing with traffic loss or another abrupt change in your business. A lot of the turbulence that enters our world is completely out of our control. And we just have to deal with it. It’s exactly like sitting on an airplane that flies through choppy air. There’s nothing to do but hold on. Think about how you deal with airplane turbulence. Do you throw panicked looks around at people sitting near you? I’ve been thinking lately, that how we react or even how we fail to react to life or business turbulence is within our control. I’ve flown so much in recent years that I’m pretty immune to actual airplane turbulence right now. I used to be the person who tightened up and grip the armrests and sent panic to looks and vibes throughout the cabin. But now I just take a deep breath and I remind myself that there’s absolutely nothing I can do to stop the turbulence or to lessen it. So I close my eyes, I keep sleeping or I keep reading a book or maybe I have a conversation with whoever sitting next to me. My son Sammy, he is the roller coaster enthusiast that I’ve talked about on this podcast. He told me recently that when he experiences turbulence on an airplane, he pretends like he’s on a roller coaster. I love that we may as well turn it into something fun, even if it’s in our minds, right? Taking control of those things that we can control helps to restore peace that helps to restore happiness. It gives us clarity about next step. It can help us to keep our minds in a good spot. And something that feels really important to me lately, it preserves our energy levels, maybe you’re feeling like you’re not being as productive as you could be, or that something is holding you back, and you’re just not quite sure what it is, I’ve had that feeling so many times, over the years, maybe the aftermath of the helpful content update has sent you into a tailspin, whatever is causing you to feel turbulence in your life know that it is going to be okay. One reassuring point is that turbulence always ends eventually, eventually, that airplane lands and you’re back on the ground, and turbulence is gone. And while it is happening, there are ways to get through it without your world totally being rocked. So let’s talk through five steps to getting through turbulent times. So you can feel more in control. 

Megan Porta  05:59

Number one, awareness, what is the source of the turbulence and what is in your control? I have been pretty transparent about my recent burnout situation lately, and have just felt that choppy air around me. I started just by noticing it like what is this exactly? The cause of my brand of turbulence here in May 2024 is burnout. I think it’s important that we recognize why we’re feeling unbalanced and tossed about, there was definitely a time in my life not too long ago, when I wouldn’t have been able to put my finger on this, I would have known that things felt off. But I would not have known why or even to know that I should be looking for the source. So this tip is really important. Awareness holds a ton of power. And it allows you to move toward a solution. If you were on a plane, and things started shaking all over the place, and you had no idea that airplane turbulence was a fairly common occurrence, or that most likely you are going to land safely, you’d be a mess, I would be a mess, anyone in this situation would be a mess. Having this knowledge is reassuring. And it helps to put our focus on what we can control, which is our emotions and how we handle being shaken around. So my burnout has created the situation where working has felt really hard for me. I’ve had to cut way back on the work I’ve been doing. But I still have things that I need to get done in my business. And those things feel like they’re really piling up for me, which has been making the turbulence feel even more turbulent. Something I did this week was I wrote out the things that are in my control, because that just felt good. Like I could handle this, I can’t speed up the healing process, I can’t make the whole process of getting through burnout, go any faster. So now that I’m here, I’m here, I have to let it play out, I have to listen to my intuition as best I can. 

Megan Porta  08:14

Here are some things that I can do. I can write out work projects that I need to complete, I can start knocking off these tasks, when I’m in a good headspace to do so. I can also ask for help with some things. This is something I don’t often think about. I feel like I need to carry everything in my business. And I need to be the one checking off all the things, it does not have to be that way. I have a team, I have an assistant, I have a husband, I have people who are more than willing to help me especially when my business is feeling a little bit extra turbulent. Another thing that is in my control, I can stay on top of doing the things that I know my body and my mind need right now like working out getting outside every day, and meditating those sorts of things. So I literally just sat down and wrote out all of these things. It was a huge list. I even included conversations that I’ve been avoiding, because it’s just felt too hard. It felt good to look at my list, knowing that all of these things are in my control. These are all things that I can do or I can hand off for someone else to do. If you’re feeling like things are out of control for you right now. Get out a pen and paper or open a Google Doc and just start your list. This is step one, write down only the things that you can control. 

Megan Porta  09:44

Number two, pull out the top five to 10 things that you can do this week to minimize your distress. Once you have everything written down, pull out five to 10 things on your list that if you took care of them this week, your distress would be greatly minimized. If we put ourselves back on a turbulent airplane, those things could be double checking your seatbelt, making sure it’s buckled tightly, taking a few deep breaths, closing your eyes and visualizing something positive, or maybe like you landing and being in a place where the turbulence is gone. It could mean starting to read a good book, or having a conversation with the person next to maybe it’s ordering a glass of wine, or a glass of ginger ale, whatever sounds tasty in the moment, or pulling out a snack from your backpack. When you look over your list of things that you can accomplish, that will minimize the distress surrounding your turbulence, pull out the items that give you the biggest reaction. I knew immediately when I saw a few of the things on my list that I needed to pull them out. Because these are the things that I’ve been resisting the most. And I know that once they’re done, life is going to feel so much more smooth, I just know that I need to make these things happen. It’s almost like these things jumped out at me from my piece of paper calling me to pull them out. So once you’ve done this, you’ve pulled out a few main points, write them out on a piece of paper, you could also put them on your computer, but I do recommend writing them down too. And you’ll hear why in just a bit. 

Megan Porta  11:30

Number three, assign due dates or people to each point. So you’ve determined that you have control over a few certain things. So now you’d need to decide who is going to take care of them. And when are they going to be taken care of write those details down as well. One of the items on my list was to recruit people for the Eat Blog Talk Fall Retreat, that’s coming up fairly quickly. So this is something that I really need to get a handle on. And it’s something I’ve been putting off simply because there’s been turbulence in my life, it’s normally something I’m super excited about. And I don’t hesitate to jump right on it. But because of the turbulence that I’m experiencing, it has just felt extra hard. I had the thought yesterday that my assistant could help me jumpstart this. So I put her name next to the task, and I gave myself three days to talk to her about it. Just this morning, I pass it over to her, I gave her all the details she would need, along with an email template she could use to communicate with applicants. And just like that it’s done. Sometimes things become so big in my head, that I think it’s going to take an entire army to get them finished. Then after just literally a few minutes of effort and minimal energy. It’s done. And I feel more in control of my life and my business. What was I so worried about? I’ve done the same thing with each of the points that I pulled out of my main list. I put people and due dates next to everything. And I encourage you to do the same names and dates is it you Is it someone else, get it on paper, take that paper and tape it to your bathroom mirror. Or somewhere where you know you’re going to see it a handful of times throughout the day. Seeing it often is going to remind you to take action. And it really does help me to have that visual reminder as I move about my day. 

Megan Porta  13:31

Number four, do the things and get accountability. Now you just need to start chipping away at your list. If it helps to get accountability, do that as well. Give a trusted family member or a friend your list and ask them to check in with you throughout the next few weeks. To make sure you’re staying on track. If you’re in a mastermind group, this is a really great thing to ask for accountability for there as well. There’s so much power in accountability. And it’s easy to forget this during turbulent times. It’s almost like turbulence removes clarity from our heads, at least for me. And we forget those simple things like the fact that there are people that really do want to hold us accountable when we asked for it. If someone reached out to you and asked you to hold them accountable for some things that they were really wanting to accomplish, you’d have their back, right? So it’s the same thing with people who love you and care about you. This is the point I usually get hung up on I can write out a list and make a plan really well. But when turbulence is bouncing me around, and I can so easily feel stuck. I feel almost like a deer in headlights, looking at the lights just sitting there not knowing what to do not knowing that I should move out of the way before the car hits me. The words that come to my mind when this happens and it has been happening quite a bit lately. I’ve had that deer in the headlights feeling I think just do it. The example I talked about in the last point with putting the Fall Retreat in motion, it felt insurmountable for weeks for me. And once I just decided to do something about it, it was literally done in minutes. So just do it. That is as much advice for myself as it is for you. Just get started. Sometimes I just need to remember that an object in motion stays in motion. Getting started is the hardest part. And once it started, you’ll be unstoppable. 

Megan Porta  15:33

Number five, keep an eye on your list and take care of yourself. There’s a ton of power in this point. Chipping away at those things that are in your control is going to greatly and immediately diminish the strength of the turbulence that you’re feeling. But have your guard up a little bit. Even if you’ve moved through your five to 10 tasks this week that you pull out of your list, the turbulence might resurface and it might resurface fairly quickly. This is also where mindset and self care come into play, the better you take care of yourself, especially during turbulent times, the smoother the air is going to feel. Trust me on this one. I was just chatting with my husband this morning, after feeling overwhelmed 10 minutes into starting work. I was almost in tears, I couldn’t believe that I was only 10 minutes into work and already feeling like I needed to go take a nap. This is frustrating. I so badly want to be able to sit down and work for a full day without feeling totally depleted. And like I need to take a long nap. I want to be back at my old self prior to this turbulence that I’m feeling knowing how productive I can be and how motivated I usually am. My husband had to remind me that the past few months have been probably more stressful than any other three month stretch I’ve ever had. 

Megan Porta  17:02

My VA have a lot of years left the business, I had to train in a new assistant. I had an IRS audit for God’s sake that took so much energy from my soul. And I planned my first big conference and executed it and managed to keep my other business tasks afloat during that time. That’s a lot. So it was really good that he reminded me of that I really needed that. To go along with that. It was also good for me just to remind myself that the reason I’m not deep in depression or like in a really terrible spot right now is because I’ve been prioritizing taking care of myself for the past five months. Thank goodness, I listened to the nudge to up my self care game. At the beginning of the year, I will 100% continued to prioritize this. And I’m going to keep a close eye on my things. I can control this so that I stay on top of the turbulence going on in my life. I hope you feel that nudge to do the same. And I truly hope this episode helps. 

Megan Porta  18:12

To summarize the five steps to getting through turbulent times. Number one, awareness what is the source and what is in your control. Number two, pull out the five to 10 things you can do this week to minimize your distress. Number three, assign due dates or people to each point number four, do the things and get accountability. Number five, keep an eye on your list and take care of yourself. There is so much uncertainty out there right now the atmosphere is so thick with turbulence in our space that I can literally feel it. Just sitting at my quiet desk down here in my basement. I want you to know that you’re not alone. I talked to a lot of food bloggers and entrepreneurs. This is a collective turbulence that’s going on right now. And I hope that knowing you’re not alone gives you some sort of peace. Remember, turbulence always passes eventually. So take a deep breath hold on tight, keep taking care of yourself and do those things that you can control and that you know you need to do in order to get through this. You have got this I am here for you. Please let me know how I can help and thank you so much for listening of food bloggers. I will see you in the next episode. 

Outro  19:30

Thank you so much for listening to this mindset and self-care episode here on Eat Blog Talk. If you are a food blogger providing a service for other food bloggers, and you want to spread the word about the value that you offer. I would love to offer you a free way to do just this. Send me a 60 second audio clip to be featured in a mindset and self-care episode here on Eat Blog Talk in 2024. Go to eatblogtalk.com/audioclip to learn more.