Mindful Middle Invitation for The Overstretched Caregiver

0:28Hey, I'm Hunter Clark Fields. up, but there's a kind of tired that doesn't go away with sleep. It does not. I think often people in this place don't even quite think of themselves as struggling, just kind of thinking, I guess this is just what this stage of life looks like. The raising the kids, the supporting agent parents, trying to work, manage relationships, carrying that whole mental load. And so it's not like a crisis, but it's not exactly a light load either. Yeah. And we kind of want to call this season the mindful middle because we have a take on it. Yeah. I mean, the hopefully mindful middle is what we're hoping for.

1:09It's not a diagnosis, but it's like, you know, not exactly a problem to solve, but it's like just that description of the season that you and I have been talking about, Hunter, where it's like caregiving responsibility. It's ongoing and it's more and more all the time. our nervous system is just kind of like never off, you know? Yeah. Yeah. And when this, when you're caring for others is constant, your system is really staying alert. And that's when we start to see things like less patience, more guilt when you're just resting, you might feel disconnected from yourself or, you know, just feeling like you're always on, even if you have a quiet moment.

1:49And none of this means you're doing something wrong. I mean, unfortunately, in some ways what it means is that your nervous system is actually doing exactly what it's evolved to do, which is to protect, which is to respond, to react, to actually, and to just stay vigilant. Yeah. And so Chris and I put together a special offer for parents and caregivers who are holding a lot, often without much space to be held themselves. Because you might be the person others lean on, the one who keeps things moving, the one who notices what everyone else needs. And yet you may not have many places where you get to land.

2:29I think this is especially for those of us who don't quite feel bad enough. Do I need to ask for help? But you also know that something is just not sustainable right now, right? If you've ever been thinking, I'm not sure if I should be this tired for this long, or oh, I don't have it so bad. like they've got it worse, talking to that other parent on the soccer sideline, or, you know, they've got it worse, or that kind of like, I just need to put through, you know, kind of push through this. What's that saying? Like, you know, after next week, things will calm down, but it's then realizing that's not quite actually true, right?

3:04We're just in the middle of it. Yeah. You think at the end of the to-do list, that never ends. And it's not something to muscle through alone. Exactly. I think one of the challenges of this season is that it's not like acute, right? It's hard to exactly put your finger on, but it's cumulative. Like this stuff just adds up. It builds up in our schedule, in our body, in our nervous system. And it trickles out onto everybody else around us too, right? Because without support, it shows up as irritability, shutdown, anxiety, that exhaustion, burnout. That's just kind of hard to explain. Yeah, and so when we think about like, we want to have it be the mindful middle and mindfulness in this context isn't about becoming calmer or better.

3:49It's about learning how to stay connected to yourself while you care for others, how to notice your own signals before burnout becomes the only way your body gets a break. That's why we created The Mindful Middle. So it's a small, alive, small group coaching series for parents and caregivers who are in this season of life. it's not a course it's not something you have to keep up with it's a place to slow down practice and reflect together and and that's good because keeping up with all those videos that i think a lot of us buy and then don't watch is really hard so that's why we're keeping it just like kind of like live small group thing um we'll have a kind of like gentle guided mindfulness and reflections a little bit of teaching and really a lot of space for connection you know which is you know so much kind of the antidote to this burnout that we feel, you know, but, you know, not too much pressure on that to kind of share, you know, more than you feel comfortable with too, right?

4:46You can participate live. You can listen quietly. You can watch the recordings later if you, if you do have time. And it's just about trying to support you in this phase, support your nervous system, not trying to add one more thing to your plate, which we know is full, unlike your kids played. So we're going to have three small group sessions. We're going to focus on things like single tasking and slowing down, learning to listen to your own needs, understanding guilt through a nervous system lens, and cultivating self-compassion in real practical ways. And that's because I think what's cool about this is people often wait until they're overwhelmed to seek support.

5:25But it's like, if you've ever been to the hospital, they say, take the medication to stay ahead of the pain. This is to stay ahead of that stress, that suffering that is just snowballing for all of us in the middle of the storm, right? But the space is for earlier, right? Well, you're still functioning, but it's costing you and it's costing the people around you. Yeah, you don't need to be broken to deserve care. The mindful middle is about staying whole while you're caring for others and remembering that you're human, not just a helper. so if this resonates you if you can hear yourself in any of this we warmly invite you to learn more about the mindful middle at mindful mama mentor.com slash middle there's no pressure you can just open the door and check it out absolutely and hunter i still am like should we have called it the mindful model because that's kind of how it's feeling for me these days but yeah this season is so demanding you don't have to navigate it alone we're trying not to we've got each other we're looking forward to connecting with all of you soon.

6:28Yeah, yeah. Join us. You can find all the details for the small group sessions that will be happening this February and March at mindfulmamamentor.com slash middle. That's a lot of M's I know, but it's mindfulmamamentor.com slash middle. And wherever you are in the middle of it all, we're really glad you're here.

6:55Thank you.