When Life Gets Heavy, Lighten the Load

Wowzer, what a week! I don't know what has been going on in your world, but so many people around me have had SO much going on, and I'm not talking about the little everyday stuff either. There have been some really big, challenging, and genuinely difficult situations playing out, and when life gets like that. it's very easy for the heaviness of what's happening to consume everything else.

Now, I'm certainly not suggesting we put a positive spin on something that is genuinely awful, pretend everything is wonderful, or discount the urgency and importance of what we're dealing with. Sometimes life is bloody hard, and we need to acknowledge that. But while we're navigating the hard stuff, I think there's also something incredibly powerful about consciously looking for ways to lighten the load, even if it's only for five minutes at a time.

Part of that can be learning to reframe what's happening without denying the reality of it. Instead of allowing our mind to continually tell us, “This is terrible, and it's never going to end,” perhaps we can gently shift towards, “This is really difficult right now, AND it is getting better,” or “I don't know exactly how this is going to work out yet, but it won't always feel like this.” We're not pretending the difficult bit doesn't exist; we're simply reminding our brain that there are other possibilities available too.

And then there's FUN. When you're dealing with something really serious, having fun might be the last thing you feel like doing, but perhaps that's exactly when we need little pockets of lightness the most. Interestingly, a recent meta-analysis looking at 15 randomised controlled trials involving more than 1,300 adults found that laughter-based interventions were associated with reductions in stress, although the researchers also noted considerable differences between the studies. So watching something ridiculous on Netflix, ringing the friend who always makes you laugh, getting outside with the dog, putting some music on, or doing something completely silly for ten minutes isn't necessarily avoiding what's going on. Sometimes it's simply giving your mind and body a little respite from carrying the heaviness all day long.

This is where my FUN Effect - Feeling Free, Uplifted and Naturally ourselves - becomes particularly important. FUN doesn't have to mean partying, pretending everything is fabulous or ignoring what needs our attention. It can be something incredibly simple that helps lift our energy for a moment and reminds us that even when something difficult is happening, there can still be little pockets of joy, connection, laughter and lightness alongside it.

Self-care also becomes an absolute priority during these times, and this is where we need to become discerning with our time and energy. Get outside and ground yourself in nature, move your body, spend time near water if that's your thing, give yourself some quiet space, and choose to be around people who lift you rather than adding another layer of heaviness. We can't always change what's happening around us, but we can become more conscious of what we're adding to our own energetic load while we're navigating it.

The other big thing I've been reminded of this week is that everybody has their own journey. We can love people, support them, send them buckets of love and compassion, and be there when they need us, but ultimately we cannot take ownership and responsibility for somebody else's journey. That's their path to navigate, just as ours is ours. For those of us who naturally want to help, fix, rescue or carry everyone else, that's not always easy, but sometimes the most loving thing we can do is support somebody without trying to carry their experience for them.

And the same compassion we show other people needs to come back towards ourselves. We're human. We're perfectly imperfect. Sometimes we'll stay beautifully grounded and stable, and other times we'll lose our shit over something completely ridiculous because it happens to be the final straw on top of everything else we're carrying. Rather than then beating ourselves up for not being calm, coherent, and spiritually enlightened every second of the day, maybe we can simply acknowledge what happened, forgive ourselves, reset, and have another go.

As someone who works with energy and conscious awareness, I think this is where staying in our own lane becomes so important. When there's a lot of heavier, denser energy around us, we don't have to absorb all of it or allow ourselves to be pulled into every situation. We can keep returning to our own centre, finding our stability and doing our best to navigate what's in front of us with as much ease, grace and flow as possible. Some days we'll manage that beautifully and some days we absolutely won't, but we can keep coming back.

So if you're going through some really big stuff at the moment, I'm sending buckets of love your way. Be gentle with yourself, put your own self-care high on the priority list, and look for those little opportunities to lighten the load wherever you can. Have a laugh, get outside, spend time with people who lift you, watch something funny, play, move, breathe, and remind yourself that this moment isn't your whole story. You don't have to deny the heavy stuff to allow a little lightness beside it, and sometimes that tiny bit of light is exactly what helps us find our way through.

Trust. Believe. Allow. With ease, grace, and flow. 

💫Just Choose Life. Choose consciously. Live aligned.