The solution for women who feel underwhelmed and overwhelmed

Written on Apr 20, 2023

By Jessica Salerno-Shumaker, OSCPA senior content manager

Running on a hamster wheel every single day is not the path to fulfillment.

“That sense of feeling simultaneously underwhelmed and overwhelmed is a wake-up call,” said Regan Walsh, executive coach. “That means it’s time to shift some of your decisions so you can really step into a life of contentment.”

Walsh is presenting Your Life, Your Terms at the Women, Wealth & Wellness Conference on July 20, where she will share strategies for helping those who are overprogrammed to reclaim their lives, both personally and professionally.

Walsh, who is also the author of Heart Boss, said it has been her life’s work to help women shift from asking the question “Is this it?” to “This is it!” She said many of her clients lead a very full and busy life caring for aging parents and young children, participating in their communities and spending time with a partner.

“And at the end of the day, many of them have come to me and said ‘I thought that I had everything in my life that I wanted. I'm at this high level in my career and with my family, and I am not all that jazzed about it,’” she said.

Walsh said one of the first steps to solving this issue is determining priorities and setting boundaries. It can be intimidating to say “no,” to colleagues and friends when asked to commit to more, but Walsh said it’s about having the courage to live according to your values.

When partnering with a new client she said she starts with the basics, simply asking them to take a holistic view of their life and point out the areas that are most important to them. If someone emphasizes the importance of spending time with their family but is instead allocating the majority of their time to work and other outside commitments, that could be an indicator of why they’re unsatisfied.

“A lot of times we need to realign with how we're showing up with these areas that we say are the most important and make some bold moves to feel that sense of alignment,” she said.

Every person has a finite amount of time available, and Walsh said she commonly talks about tradeoffs with clients. Saying yes to one commitment inevitably means saying no to something else.

“The biggest moment is when people step into this idea that they have choices and what you're not changing, you're choosing,” she said. “So be clear on what it is you're willing to choose. And if you don't like that choice, you have got to change it.”