Things keep piling up. And no matter how many times the promise is made to slow down, it never actually happens.

Here's what nobody tells you: taking a break won't fix it if you don't know what's actually driving the overstimulation in the first place. You'll just come back from your week off and fall right back into the same patterns.

This journaling session gets you to the root. Four prompts that'll help you figure out if you're even doing things you want to be doing, what staying overstimulated might be protecting you from, and what you'd actually do with your time if you had space to think. No fluff, just the questions that create real shifts.

Journal through these prompts:

1. What is overstimulating me right now?
2. Are the things that overstimulate me things I want to be doing? Or did I adopt them from someone else's expectations?
3. Even though I don't want to be overstimulated, I keep finding myself here. What could this pattern be protecting me from?
4. If I wasn't overstimulated and had more space in my brain and my day, what would I love to spend that time and energy doing?

You'll finish this session with clarity you can't unsee. And you'll stop spinning in the same cycle of overwhelm, break, repeat.

• Free Calm Mind Blueprint: http://www.samanthapenkoff.com/calm-mind-pod
• Newsletter: www.samanthapenkoff.com/prompts

• 90 min Breakthrough Intensives: We get to the root of what keeps you performing instead of enjoying. Plus a 30-minute follow-up call 2 weeks later. Click here for details.
• Private Coaching - 4 open spots: www.samanthapenkoff.com/privatecoaching

Connect with Sam: Instagram | Facebook

You keep telling yourself you'll rest after this project. After the busy season. After you get through this month.

But here's what actually happens: you hit your breaking point, book a retreat or take a week off, feel temporarily better — and then you're right back where you started. Overstimulated. Exhausted. Running on fumes again.

This episode pulls back the curtain on why we wait until we're desperate to prioritize ourselves, and why those big drastic measures (the retreats, the content courses, the "I'm taking next month off" declarations) aren't actually solving the problem. You'll walk away understanding what's really driving your overstimulation — and three practical ways to regulate your nervous system without needing to escape your life first.

Key Takeaways:

• Why retreats should enhance your life, not be a lifeline to revive you
• The question that reveals if you're actually prioritizing yourself (or just decision fatigued)
• How to stop the cycle of "I'll rest when..." and feel grounded in your actual everyday life
• Three tips to regulate your nervous system right now — no retreat required

You'll stop waiting for permission to feel calm. And you'll start trusting that you can feel less overstimulated without blowing up your schedule or booking a flight.

• Free Calm Mind Blueprint: http://www.samanthapenkoff.com/calm-mind-pod
• Newsletter: www.samanthapenkoff.com/prompts

• 90 min Breakthrough Intensives: We get to the root of what keeps you performing instead of enjoying. Plus a 30-minute follow-up call 2 weeks later. Click here for details.
• Private Coaching - 4 open spots: www.samanthapenkoff.com/privatecoaching

Connect with Sam: Instagram | Facebook

You've been running on autopilot through the holidays — buying, wrapping, planning, coordinating — because that's what you've always done. But have you ever stopped to ask: why am I doing this?

Most working moms don't question it. You just assume it's your job. That if you don't do it, it won't get done (or won't get done right). And honestly? Part of you might not even want to stop — because being the holiday coordinator gives you something. Control. Identity. Proof that you're a good mom.

This episode isn't about adding more to your plate. It's about creating awareness around the beliefs that are keeping you exhausted.

Strategic Journal Prompts:

• What would happen if you didn't coordinate everything this year?
• What are you afraid your family would think, feel, or say if you didn't coordinate everything this year?
• What does being the holiday coordinator give you? Is it identity, control, or maybe proof that you're a good mom?

These prompts might make you uncomfortable. That's the point. This is how you start questioning the beliefs keeping you stuck — and find a way forward that doesn't require burning yourself out to prove your worth.

• Free Calm Mind Blueprint: http://www.samanthapenkoff.com/calm-mind-pod

• 90 min Breakthrough Intensives: We get to the root of what keeps you performing instead of enjoying. Plus a 30-minute follow-up call 2 weeks later. Click here for details.
• Private Coaching - 4 open spots: www.samanthapenkoff.com/privatecoaching

Connect with Sam: Instagram | Facebook | Reply to my newsletter