Feeling Restless? Add Some New Tools to your Toolbox!

Transitions, changes, the unknown. Boredom, monotony, lack of stimulation. Both sides of the spectrum, both faces of the coin, can bring a sense of restlessness within us. It can feel unsettling in the body and for many of us, it’s hard to sit and be with that buzzy feeling of unease. 

Our natural human instinct is to sound the brain sirens, react to that restlessness, impulsively grab the quickest and trustiest toolbox tool we’ve got, and hope the discomfort can be pacified, just for a moment, please! 

So what does that trusty tool look like for most of us? Like a mother that gives a bottle to a crying baby, our lifetime body wisdom tells us food will comfort, console, and bring relief to us during those pesky periods. 

And yes! Lived experience has shown us time and time again that the action of eating does soothe the ever-so-ancy soul. It is a tried and true tool in the emotional toolbox and because it’s also linked to the nourishment of this living and breathing body, it’s a survival tool as well. 

Eating food may be our oldest tool in the toolbox, but it doesn’t have to be our ONLY tool in the toolbox. Just like in any relationship, it can start to become a slippery slope when we rely solely on one person, place, or thing for all our comfort, support, and needs. 

So let’s pull out our handy-dandy toolbox, clean out the cobwebs, and put some fresh new gadgets and gizmos in to ease some of our more restless rumbling periods. 

THE MESSAGE IN THE RESTLESS

We’ve all felt that buzzy body feeling. Like TV static in our bones that seems to be vibrating on a cellular level. What is that static telling us? Is there a message in these restless body moments? 

I like to think of these sensations as a cue, or as my playful curious brain likes to call it, a CLUE. Our body is clueing us in, sending out a flare through the bones to say, hey, we got a need in here! Please acknowledge me! Please give me some attention! 

Our body is asking us to investigate, get curious, and do our best to meet that body cue, that curious clue, with a tool from the toolbox. 

As mentioned above, because these flares can feel un-comfy, it’s second nature to react, grab our oldest impulse tool, and hope that the static ceases. 

But let’s try thinking of it like this: every restless sensation has a different quality to it. Sometimes it’s a heavy heart, a buzzi-ness in the bones, a fear/shame pain in the gut. Each one has a unique message and therefore, has a unique tool that best suits the soothing of the sensation. Try these out!

A heavy heart?  

Do some stream of conscious journaling, call a close family or friend to unload the burden, make a no-filter voice recording for yourself, walk in nature (or the neighborhood) with your favorite tunes, do pen to paper art/doodling.

A buzzy body?

Find joyful movement through walking, swimming, dancing, running up a trail, stretching, yoga. Create art (music, drawing, cooking) of any kind to slow down the body and mind.

A fear/shame gut pain? 

Be with the sensation, intentionally pausing, meeting it with tenderness, gentleness, and compassion. Reach out for support from loved ones, be of service to others. Be with it. 

The more we practice, listen intently and with curiosity to our body clues, we are able to tap-in more easily and strengthen some new nourishing toolbox tools. 

SUPPORT & COMMUNITY: IF IT WORKED FOR THEM IT MIGHT WORK FOR ME

To this day, I have found nothing more motivational, inspirational, and hopeful than hearing other human’s trials and tribulations, toolbox tools utilized, and triumphs from those tools. There’s a humbling and hopeful feeling that  

IF IT WORKED FOR THEM, BY GOLLY, IT JUST MIGHT WORK FOR ME. LET ME GIVE IT A GO. 

We aren’t meant to add new tools to the toolbox on our own. Yes, we can come up with an idea, trial-and-error all we want, but that cycle can get pretty tiring all on our lonesome. Having diverse, rich, and fresh perspectives and experiences from a supportive community is a potent catalyst for finding new and powerful tools. 

Whether your only trusty tool has been reaching for food in times of restless body buzz, or your stimulated mind hyper-focuses on all things but prioritizing eating, finding a network of humans that are on the same boat and same sea as you can give an incredible sense of belonging, understanding, and hope. 

WHAT TOOLS ARE WORKING FOR OUR NEURISHED MEMBERS? 

 FINAL THOUGHTS

Fact! Food is a tool we have used and will continue to use for the rest of our lives. It’s been around since before our birth and is a life-giving, comforting, and tasty way to quiet the periodic restless body buzzing. 

And! Let’s not forget that we have a bountiful toolbox that we can add to, practice with, and strengthen our whole lives too. When we listen to our body cues and our curious body clues, we can begin to tap-in more easily to meeting that specific need with a fresh new and nourishing tool. 

We can do our own personal experimenting to find a useful tool for a specific restless rumbling sensation, but the path of adding to our toolboxes is best traveled with others. Gathering nuggets of wisdom and experience from a supportive and understanding community can bring a fuel to fire sensation of “if it worked for them, I’m willing to try it out and hope that it could work for me too!”. 

Curious about joining such a community? It exists in the Neurished Monthly Membership network! Join a group of like-minded individuals that share honestly, share strategies, and share wins as we learn to thrive in Eating with ADHD® together. 

So keep adding, strengthening, and coming back to some previously loved tools. There’s no limit as to what tool to use when, where, and no rhyme or reason as to why one tool works on one day and not another. Let’s remain curious and gentle in the process of meeting our ever-changing body buzz and needs with our handy-dandy-filled toolbox!