October is not just my favorite month, but it is also my busiest month.
And sometimes I get stressed, overwhelmed, and sometimes I even get sick because I'm doing
so many things.
Now all these things are so much fun.
It's all good stuff, but I still get overwhelmed.
So in today's episode, I'm talking about three different things that you could implement
starting right now to help you keep your nervous system calm and balanced through the
busiest seasons of your life.
Let's get into it.
You're listening to the Soul Online Self-Care Podcast.
I'm your host Tina Stinson, and I had a stroke at the age of 39 from stress and burnout
that shook my world.
Now I'm laying it all out, the deep-level self-care practices and mindset shifts that
I needed that kept me healthy, balanced, and thriving.
Join me in this intimate space as we explore healing, resilience, and a soul's journey
to alignment.
This is where real conversations about deep-level self-care happen.
Let's get into it.
Hey guys.
Welcome back to the Soul Online Self-Care Podcast.
For those of you who come back every week and hang out with me, I want to thank you for
being here with me.
I'm so honored to be able to spend this time with you.
And for those of you who are here for the first time, welcome.
Today we are talking about beating October overwhelm.
Or maybe I should call it just autumn or fall or whatever you call it.
I don't know what it is, but every year, this time of the year, it kind of starts in September
and then it kind of moves through the end of October.
I have a little lull after that, but then we go into the holiday season.
Now my holiday season isn't crazy.
I celebrate the holidays kind of very differently than most people.
But this time of the year is just crazy for me, but it's a good crazy.
It's fun stuff.
It's me picking all the harvests from the garden, pulling the garlic.
I breed the garlic doing all the festivals, selling the garlic.
It's just so much fun, all of that stuff.
And doing the festivals, so much fun.
And on top of that, it's very busy in my coaching business and with the meditations.
So I'm doing all the podcast, everything.
So it just seems so busy.
And this year, I'm actually doing what is called Inktober, which is you draw a picture every
single day.
If you want to look it up, it's on Instagram, Inktober, INK, T-O-B-E-R.
And so they give you a topic for every day of the month in October and you draw a picture
for that.
And I'm doing that on my Instagram art account, which is Toulula Sunday is my art account name.
And so it's a brand new thing.
I'm doing it with my oldest daughter who is an artist.
And so it's been a lot of fun.
It's been eye opening.
It's not the easiest thing to do, but that's just another thing that I'm doing.
That's so much fun this season.
I love being creative and I love painting and drawing and stuff like that.
So as I said, October, it's just my favorite month.
It's also my birthday.
It's my daughter's birthday.
A lot of my friends.
It was my mom's birthday and opt over.
So it's just like such a beautiful time of the year.
The colors of the leaves, the cooler weather coming in, especially after this past summer,
that was very warm.
It's like extremely warm for me.
The apple picking, the pumpkin picking, Halloween, just so much fun stuff.
So it can't get much better than the month of October as far as I'm concerned.
And it is crazy busy for me.
So I'm making sure this year, that's what this whole podcast episode is about.
Not to get too stressed by just taking a few steps that I'm going to be sharing with you today.
And also I'm going to be adding a meditation.
So originally I was going to record the meditation like live connected to this podcast.
But what I'm going to do now is I'm going to post it separately.
So you'll see it almost as a, well, you will.
You'll see it as a podcast episode because I want people to be able to listen to it separately,
not have to like, you know, go through the whole podcast then to get to the end where the
meditation is so that you can listen to it over and over again if you want to very easily.
So I'm going to be posting that at the same time as I'm posting this episode.
So you should be able to go do that meditation right after this.
It's, you know, it's very busy for me, but I do realize that it's not always busy for
everybody.
So you can apply this to whatever your busy time of the year is.
These strategies can work whenever you're the busiest.
So I know a lot of people are their busiest during the holiday season.
Maybe if you're an accountant, you're busiest during tax season, like, you know, so it just
really depends on the person.
But this is really just to help you to keep your nerves calm and just have some smooth sailing
where it just feels like fun and not stress because pretty much all of this that I'm doing
is fun.
There shouldn't be no stress, no anxiety involved.
I think I most of the time I do it to myself.
And so the first thing I decided, so this is the first step, is that I'm going to make self-care
my first top priority before everything else.
So my walking, my nutrition, my rest, my, any of my workouts, my meditation, my yoga
knee-dram, my breath work, my yoga, it all comes first.
It's so easy for me to say that I'm just going to get right into all the stuff that I have
to do that day because I usually have a lot of stuff to do and I'm also really excited
because it's fun.
But I know I do this every year where I put off my self-care, I get overwhelmed, I get stressed
and sometimes I get so rundown that I even get sick.
So even though, you know, I have all this fun stuff waiting for me, the large amount of pressure
to do all of the things can still create stress in the body.
So even though it's fun stuff, it still creates that stress in the body.
So skipping your self-care routine is not really the right choice this time of year, but
I seem to do every, every single year.
So whatever your self-care is for you that you do on a normal regular basis, it's about
continuing to do that even when you feel like you don't have time.
It's about really keeping your nervous system, your body, your health resilient, okay?
And so doing self-care all the time every day helps you create that resilience and if you
just all of a sudden stop it, it's not going to be helpful.
So do not skip your self-care routine, whatever that is for you.
As a matter of fact, I'm leaning more into it.
So even this morning, so I have a, like right now I'm prepping my fields to plant my garlic.
I plant a lot of garlic like 12 to 1500 bulbs, I'll be planting.
And I'm prepping the fields right now, you know, pulling out crap grass and weeds and
stuff like that, just getting it all ready to plant.
But instead of killing myself and just like working myself to death all day long, I'm
only putting it in an hour or a day.
It's going to get done.
I know it's going to get done.
But what I normally would do is just go out there and work for like hours upon hours upon
hours and then the next day I'm worn out, I'm sore, everything hurts.
So just doing an hour day makes a big difference.
So then I still have time for my yoga and my breath where I can all the things that I like
to do that keep me healthy, keeps my nervous system calm.
That's what we need to focus on.
So keeping yourself care and check, continuing with your self care and if you don't practice
self care, maybe it's the time to start it, you know, with little things like the meditation
I'm going to be sharing with you.
So keep a lookout for that.
It's going to be a meditation that includes breath work to calm the nervous system and really
get grounded and focus on your priorities.
So that's the next thing.
The next thing is to prioritize the most important things to you before you week begins or before
your busy time begins.
Make some time to write down everything that you want to do and need to do and then you're
going to clean up that list.
You're going to do what I call the three D's.
What are you going to ditch?
What are you going to delegate and what are you going to do?
So what can you ditch altogether or push into a less busy time?
What can you delegate to someone else even if it's just part of that task and what do you
absolutely want and need to do?
So I'm going to give you a few examples using myself.
What can I ditch?
Well right now I'm in the middle of redesigning my website.
I'm changing just the way it looks and the content that you'll see when you go to my website.
And this is just going to get pushed into November or December maybe.
I kind of just wanted to be done before the beginning of the next year.
So I don't need to be doing that right now when I'm so busy in October.
So why would I do it now?
So that's what's going to get ditched.
What can I delegate?
So can I hire someone to do my social media to clean my house instead of maybe cooking
dinner every night when I don't feel like it and I'm tired or just eating crap because
I don't feel like cooking.
Can I meal crap?
So this is like a really really good step because when I work so hard and I'm exhausted at
the end of the day, I don't feel like cooking dinner.
And a lot of times I'll eat something crappy and then I'll feel even worse and that's
not self-care.
That's not nutrition is a big part of self-care.
So meal prepping ahead of time and this could be as simple as cooking like a big pot of
chili and then freezing a little bit of it so you have a couple of meals in the freezer
or soup or something like that.
It could be making a big salad and eating that for a couple of days.
Like I made a chickpea salad yesterday.
I had that for dinner.
I'm going to have that for lunch again today and probably once again tomorrow for lunch
or dinner.
So those are some ways to delegate.
Now if you have other people in your household, you can delegate some tasks to the other people
that might not be as busy.
You know, there's so many different ways.
You don't have to delegate a task completely either.
So like say we're talking about dinner again.
So you're so busy right now.
You're not going to be able to cook dinner every night.
Who else can cook dinner in your household if you're not living alone?
So I live alone so the meal prep thing is probably my go to.
But if you're not living alone, is there someone else in your household that can you can
delegate a task to?
Even if it's just one night.
So having your partner cook dinner for one night, getting take out for one night, maybe
having something your kids can even prep one night.
Even if it's not cooking, like they can make sandwiches or something like that or they can
make a salad.
So those are different ways to delegate.
Then the last part of that list is what are you doing?
Well I really want you to step into what feels aligned.
You know, and this is, this has become really a really, really big important part of my life.
I'm trying to really step into following my intuition, following what feels aligned
and what brings me joy because what am I doing if I'm not doing that?
So I'm asking myself the question out of everything that's left after I ditch some and I delegated
some all the things that I feel like I have to do.
I'm going to go into each one of those things and I'm going to put aside some time to
see how these events or these things feel to me in my body.
When I think about that thing, do I feel excited?
Do I, does my body feel expansive or does it feel heavy and stress and like constricted?
What does it feel like in your body?
You would be surprised how your body will instantly reveal exactly what you should be spending
your time on.
You'd be really, really surprised.
The biggest problem is most of us are not checking in with ourselves.
We're not paying attention to the way things make us feel.
We're just doing what we think we should be doing or what we think other people think
we should be doing.
And we really need to shift this.
And when you're so busy making, being very intentional about how you spend your time is
really important.
So if you're feeling the same way I feel this time of the year, like super busy, doing
the three D's, deciding what you're going to ditch, what you're going to delegate, and what
you're going to do.
And then looking at that do list and making sure it's aligned and you're not just doing
it because it's something you always did or something somebody else expects you to do.
See how it feels in your body.
Pay attention to the way things make you feel and then shift things accordingly as much
as you possibly can.
One of the biggest issues people have is, you know, we just completely ignore our bodies
all the time.
We ignore the signs.
We are ignoring our intuition.
So from now on, make a promise to yourself to honor what your body is telling you.
And if you haven't been doing this for a long time and you're not used to really tuning
into your body, and this was definitely my issue, be more intentional about it.
Like I said, I'm going to sit down, I'm going to go through that list and I'm going to be
very intentional about it.
So if like going out for a rager on your birthday, it sounds like a bad idea, but it's
something that you've been doing every year for your entire life.
And you'd rather just have like a nice slunch and maybe go thrifting.
And follow your heart and your body.
Listen to your body.
Change and do the things that you really want to do.
Now the last step, not least, obviously, stick with a high quality nutrition diet and make
sure that you're getting enough rest.
All right.
So these are so obvious, but we don't do it.
We don't do it.
I even, I don't do it as a coach, as a health coach, as a life coach, as a self-care coach.
And I forget to do these things because it's just not, I don't know, it's not as fun as
doing all the stuff, right?
This is something we all know that we're supposed to do.
But once again, myself included, and you know, we forget to do it, but or we intentionally
don't do it or kind of subconsciously don't do it.
I don't know.
But I'm really good with nutrition most of the time.
But the rest thing, ooh, I am so bad at that.
Sometimes when I'm excited about something, I don't sleep well because I'm so excited
about getting up the next morning and doing the thing.
Now it's kind of like a little kid that it's excited about Christmas and can't wait to
like see all the presents under the tree.
It's the same feeling, but I'm not sleeping well.
So I'll be stepping into my sleep time etiquette.
And what do I mean by sleep time etiquette?
So this includes like really, really being intentional about tuning down my nervous system
and getting it ready for bed.
So turning the lights down about 8 p.m.
or just paying attention to when it gets dark out and like turning your lights down when
it gets dark.
I keep one tiny light on in my kitchen.
I have like twinkle lights that are on one of my plant hangers that I have.
So I have like these twinkle lights.
Sometimes I'll just keep those on, which is just very like, I don't know, I don't know,
there's something about twinkle lights, right?
They just make you feel so happy.
But that will be the only lights on.
You know, and I'll start doing this like at least, you know, in tune with when it gets
dark out outside.
That's a little harder to do when we turn the clocks back because it gets dark at like
four, which I hate.
But you know, following, you know, to the best you can, you know, turn, just let it get dark
naturally in your house.
Then no screens for like two hours before bed.
This one's really, really hard for me because I do like to watch like movies on TV, but I also
love to read.
So like reading will be like my go to and then like a bedtime routine.
So my routine at bedtime can be reading a cup of herbal tea.
I love having herbal tea before bed.
Sometimes I'll do like a yin yoga.
If I didn't do yogurt or in the day and I want to squeeze in some yoga, I'll do yin yoga
because it's very, very chill and a bath.
I'm, I love baths.
I don't know if you love baths, but I love baths and that really helps me kind of like
relax.
So doing those things just like you do with for your kids when they're little really helps
get me ready for bed and so that I can get into bed and just fall asleep.
Now with the nutrition, if nutrition can get hard for you, focus on eating real whole food
for most meals.
Now that sounds really simple when I eat it and it, when I say it, when I eat it, when
I say that, it sounds really simple and it is really simple, but it's not always easy
if it's not something you've always done.
It's about not eating all that process stuff and a lot of us buy a lot of processed foods
and it makes things easier and quicker, right?
But eating real whole food like gives your body more nutrients and better energy.
So focusing on those real whole foods, even if you, if you're the type of person who's
eating a lot of processed food and you don't have like a routine with real whole food,
you just switch one meal and I would say that the easiest one to do it is with is breakfast.
So just decide that you're going to commit to starting your day with real whole food.
And that just means nothing processed, nothing with a whole bunch of ingredients in it.
You know, just like I'm going to have some eggs and then maybe some fruit, you know, are,
you know, maybe some eggs and then some fruit with yogurt and maybe a little nuts or
seeds on top, whatever.
So like that's all real whole food, very nutritious, a lot of protein and it's a great way to start
your day.
So if you, if you're not the type of person that eats a lot of real whole food, then just
commit to one meal a day and the best meal to do that with is breakfast, I would say.
Now if you're more interested in what I mean by real whole foods, let me know because I
can do another whole blog post and podcast episode on that.
If you really want me to go through how to start transitioning into eating more real whole
foods, actually there's a whole module on that in my sole align self-care intensive, which
is my online program.
I go through a whole kitchen and pantry makeover showing you how to like weed out all the
kind of crappy stuff and add better choices in.
So if you were interested in that, I could do a podcast episode.
So just reach out wherever you could find me, follow me on my Patreon, that link is always
in the show notes.
You could follow me on Instagram, but I'm really bad at responding to messages on there because
I'm just not on there a lot.
My Patreon is really the best place.
You could follow me on my Patreon for free if you want to and you can message me.
But if you really want me to do a podcast episode on that, let me know.
I would love to get some feedback from you guys.
Just like I was talking about a few seconds ago to get more support, you could join me and
learn some really great ways to do to add self-care into your everyday life.
Go visit me over on my Patreon, sole aligned life because I do all kinds of different practices.
There's a, we do a self-care practice every week.
There's a meditation every week.
We do journaling.
There's so many fun things.
And every single month, I do a reset where you could reset your nervous system and just
begin to feel better.
And we're doing it every month.
So it really helps you build resilience.
I haven't really decided when I'm doing the reset for October.
I just did the September reset at the end, but when you join as a, I can't remember which
tier it is, but as a paying member, you get access to all of that.
You get access to all of the meditations, all of the past resets.
I just started doing it.
So there's only two resets in there right now as of October 2025.
So I'm excited about doing another one, probably going to be in the third week of October, but
I haven't decided exactly when yet.
So keep an eye out for that.
But I would love to have you join me over there if you want to start making self-care and
everyday thing to help you build that resilience, to help calm the nervous system and just feel
better overall and create like this really slow moving flow in your life that just feels
good all the time.
So if you want to feel better and you want to feel good, definitely join me over there.
Link will be in the show notes.
As I said, keep an eye out for that meditation.
If you want to join me, just it'll be listed as another podcast episode.
It's going to be a very short meditation.
So if you're new to meditations, it'll be great for you.
It's going to most likely be under 10 minutes.
I'm going to try to keep it under 10 minutes and it's going to help you calm the nervous
system and get in alignment with the things that you want to do in your life.
So join me there also.
Okay, guys, until next week, I will see you later.
Take care.
Thank you so much for spending this time with me today.
If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to subscribe so you never miss a new one.
And if you're listening on Apple Podcasts, I love it if you can leave a review.
It helps get the show in front of more people who might need this type of support.
And if you're ready to take your everyday self-care even deeper, come join us inside the
Soul Aligned Life Patreon.
Every week you'll get new self-care practices and tools to help reduce stress and overwhelm.
Plus, we do a monthly reset to keep you aligned and supported always.
You'll find the link in the show notes and I'd love to see you there.
Until next time, be sure to take good care of yourself.
Love ya, bye.
(gentle music)
(soft music)
