Are You Keeping Up with… Yourself?
The world feels like it’s in permanent fast-forward. We’re all trying to navigate a world that is constantly changing, growing, and demanding more of us. Between work, family, headlines, and the endless scroll, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed, anxious, or just… lost.
We feel a gap opening up between the person we used to be and the person we think we should be. We get so busy trying to keep up with the world around us that we stop keeping up with the person within us: Ourselves.
If you feel like you’re just a passenger in your own life, running to catch a train that’s already left the station, take a deep breath. You’re not alone. And more importantly, you’re not “broken” or “behind.”
You are a human being, which means you are, by nature, always growing. The problem isn’t that you’re changing; it’s that you haven’t been given the space to get to know the person you’re becoming.
“But I’m too overwhelmed. I don’t even know where to start.”
That feeling of “overwhelm” is real. It’s often a story we’ve been told (or tell ourselves); a story that says we’re “not productive enough,” “not resilient enough,” or “not keeping up.”
But what if that story isn’t the only story?
As a humanistic and narrative therapist, I believe you are the expert on your own life. You are the author of your own story. But sometimes, we get so stuck on a difficult chapter that we forget we have the power to turn the page, or even pick up the pen.
You don’t need to “fix” yourself. You just need to reconnect with yourself. You can re-author your relationship with your life, your problems, and this changing world.
It starts by getting curious.
3 Ways to Reconnect with Your Story
Here are three small, intentional ways to start navigating the noise and find your footing:
- Get Curious, Not Critical
When you feel overwhelmed or anxious, your first instinct might be to judge yourself for it. (“Why can’t I handle this? Everyone else is fine.”)
Try this instead: Get curious. Treat that feeling as a messenger, not an enemy. Ask it:
“What are you trying to tell me right now?”
“What do I actually need in this moment?”
“What part of me does this feeling care about?”
This humanistic approach is about radical self-acceptance. Your feelings are not the problem; they are data, guiding you back to what you value.
- Name Your “Problem Story”
In narrative therapy, we say: “The person is not the problem; the problem is the problem.”
You are not “Anxiety.” You are you, a person who is currently feeling the effects of anxiety. Give that problem a name. Is it “The Burnout,” “The ‘Not-Good-Enough’ Story,” or “The Pressure Machine”?
When you separate yourself from the problem, you can see it more clearly. You can see the tactics it uses to overwhelm you and, more importantly, you can start to see the moments where you have power over it.
- Look for “Sparkling Moments”
Your “problem story” wants you to believe it’s 100% true, 100% of the time. But it’s not.
A “sparkling moment” is a small exception to the problem. It’s a tiny moment in your past or present where the problem (like “Overwhelm”) didn’t have full control.
A time you felt a tiny bit of calm.
A moment you felt connected to a friend.
A decision you made that felt truly yours.
These moments are proof that a different story a “preferred story” is already happening. Your job isn’t to create a new you from scratch. It’s to find these threads of strength and resilience that are already there and start to weave them together.
Navigating this ever-changing world is not a solo journey. You are constantly growing, and your story is always evolving.
Therapy is a dedicated, compassionate space to be the author of your life, not just a character reacting to the plot. It’s a place to get curious about who you are now, to decide which stories you want to carry forward, and to build a life that feels authentic to you.
