249. Journal With Me: What Feels Unsafe About Slowing Down
Episode 249 •
4th June 2026 • Beyond Awareness: Closing the Gap Between Knowing and Doing • Samantha Hawley | Inspired by Brene Brown, Glennon Doyle, Marie Forleo, Hillary Kerr, Mel Robbins
Maybe it's on paper. Maybe it's in your phone. Maybe it's running through your head right now.
And if someone told you to put that list away for a week, no planning, no organising, no keeping track of every little thing, something in you would probably feel uncomfortable.
Not because you need the list. Because of what the list helps you avoid feeling.
Today's journaling prompts are designed to help you get underneath the overwhelm and uncover the belief that's keeping you busy.
Journal Prompts
When I picture a day with nothing on my list and nothing that needs to get done, what is my first feeling? Not the first thought. The first feeling.
When I’m busy and productive, what does that say about me? You can expand this beyond productivity if it feels more true for you. When you’re helping, achieving, showing up, or staying involved, what does that mean about who you are?
When I’m still and unproductive, what does that say about me? On the days when you’re resting more, doing less, or not going above and beyond, what story do you make that mean about yourself?
If you had to stop writing to-do lists for one week, what are you actually afraid would happen? Keep going deeper than the obvious answer. Then go one layer deeper again.
What would it mean about me if I let myself rest before I earned it? Take the fear or belief that came up in the previous prompt and place it into this question. Notice what comes up without trying to change it.
The goal isn't to stop making lists. It's to notice what happens when there isn't something to organise, fix, achieve, or cross off.
Pay attention to what came up as you wrote today. Because the belief underneath your overwhelm is often easier to see in moments of stillness than it is in the middle of a busy day.
Breakthrough Intensive - You already know you should slow down, delegate more, stop overcommitting & be emotionally present. So why can't you? That's what we figure out in 90 minutes + integration call 1 week later. Book your Breakthrough
Exhale: Private Coaching - For women ready to do this work until it sticks and you can't revert back. 3 open spots: Work with me
Welcome back to Beyond Awareness. I am fairly confident that if you're listening, you have a to-do list right now. Maybe it's on paper and you can see it right in front of you. Maybe it's in your head. Maybe it's digitally or all three. And if I asked you to put it away for a week, no lists, no systems, no running on those mental tabs in our brains, something in you likely
just tensed up a little bit. And that reaction is exactly why I said on Tuesday that your to-do list is the reason that you're still overwhelmed. Your to-do list is not the thing that's helping you simplify and become less overwhelmed. And we talked about how what we want to feel, which is like less overwhelmed, and we want to feel more at peace. And so we...
do that by trying to organize our day, organize our thoughts, ideas, and tasks on lists. But again, that's the very thing that's keeping us from sitting with the discomfort of stillness. So that is what we are journaling on today so that you can find the belief underneath your overwhelm and actually start to create some space in your life on your calendar and, I think most importantly, in your brain.
All right, let's dive in.
Prompt number one. When I picture a day with nothing on my list and nothing that needs to get done, what is my first feeling? Not the first thought, but what is my first feeling?
prompt to. When I'm busy and productive, what does that say about me? And you can expand on this. So maybe for you, it more so means when I'm showing up for other people and involved and have a super busy day, what does that say or what does that mean about me?
Prompt three, when I'm still and unproductive, what does that say about me? So those days where you are not going above and beyond, you're not super helpful to other people, maybe you're resting more, what does that mean or say about me?
Prompt four, if you had to stop writing to-do lists for one week, what are you actually afraid would happen? And not just that you would forget, but go one layer deeper and then one more. Keep chipping away at this one.
And prompt five, on Tuesday we talked about the common beliefs like I'm not productive or I'm not viewed as highly as others that I work with or other moms do more for their kids than me. So put your belief or maybe the fear that came up for you in the previous prompt into this next sentence. What would it mean about me if I let myself rest before I earned it? Or maybe what would it mean about me
if I wasn't viewed as the top employee at work or the best boss or the most ambitious business owner in the community? Or what would it mean about me if other moms participated or volunteered more for school activities than I did? So what does that mean about you based on the fear that you just uncovered?
Amazing job, amazing work. This is the work. When they talk about doing the work, this is it. The goal here was never to throw out your lists. Again, I am a list girly. I love my to-do lists. The whole point is to notice when stillness feels like a threat to your body and to your nervous system and to realize that that's not an organization problem. It's a belief that's worth looking at.
And so really sit with what came up for you today. And if that surprised you and you've maybe never allowed yourself to go there because you are so busy and you are so focused on that next list item that you can then check off, that's usually the thing that's worth bringing into a conversation. So I'm always open in my DMs or email if you want to chat with me. And then the link to work with me is in the show notes. And real quick.
I just wanted to say that if episode 246 resonated, that was the one about the belief beneath feeling like you should do all the things, if that one hit close to home while you were probably rushing to finish one more thing before the kids got home, there are still a couple more spots open for the should session. That's the 30 to 45 minute call.
where we find your exact belief that's been keeping you in that should mentality and keeping you stuck there. So you can close your laptop at 3 p.m. or 5 p.m. and actually be present when you walk through that door. And however else shoulds are showing up in your life, we can release that grip. There's only five spots total at an extreme discount. And the last day to sign up is Tuesday. So click the link on the show notes for the should session if you are interested in that.
Thank you for showing up for yourself today and for me in this podcast. I will see you on Tuesday.
