When You’re Overwhelmed, I Want You to Picture Balloons

By talking through our day-to-day concerns, we can uncover the mechanisms at work behind our thoughts, actions, and patterns. When we gain internal clarity, the weather has a way of clearing up. 

Today’s guest post is by Rachel Rider, author of Who You Are is How You Lead (CLICK HERE to get your copy).

“Rachel, I don’t even know where to begin. I’m totally overwhelmed.”

This was the first thing out of my client Thalia’s mouth. Like so many in leadership positions, as the CEO and Founder of her company she was being pulled in 10,000 directions and needed to make several high stakes decisions.

“I’d like to start with an exercise, if it’s ok with you, Thalia,” I said. “I’d like you to picture everything you’ve got going on right now, and, one by one, I’d like you to name your concerns. As you do, I want you to assign that concern to a balloon. I’d like you to give the balloon a color, and a place in the room.”

As a master coach and founder of MettaWorks, I find that when clients come to me feeling cloudy or overwhelmed, an exercise like this is a great way to help decide what to focus on. It’s also a great way to discover what’s going on beneath the surface of the problems. And, asking visionaries like Thalia to picture balloons is a good icebreaker – admittedly, it sounds a little ridiculous at first.

Thalia was game. The first issue was assigned a yellow balloon at the back of her chair. This balloon was Thalia’s board’s decision to move headquarters out of its founding office and into a new location across town. A location that Thalia disliked, and, she knew, would change the presenting culture of the organization. The second balloon, green, hung over her couch. It was the cost of inflation that was pushing the company’s touchstone product beyond reach for a primary demographic, a demographic that Thalia cared about deeply. The third balloon, blue, was right above her head. This was her partner’s decision to plan a 50th wedding anniversary for her parents during Thalia’s busiest quarter. And so on.

When Thalia had named and placed all of her concerns in balloons around her, I asked her to take a look at the room. “Notice the space between the balloons,” I said, “and the space between you and the balloons. What comes up for you?”

“Well,” she said, “I feel the space. But I also feel like the balloons are attached to my sides by strings.”

“Let’s ask your nervous systems what we can do about that. Can we cut the strings? Is there someone you trust who could hold them for you?”

“No,” said Thalia, suddenly forceful. “What I’m feeling is, I can and I should hold all these strings. I can manage this myself. I have to manage this myself.”

Thalia paused and looked down. “You know what? There’s something else. It’s like, if I don’t hold these strings this tight, I might lose my grip and they’ll just float away. If I’m not holding on as tight as I can, I could fail.”

And there it was. Beneath the cloud cover of everyday concerns – the board, the cost of the product; Thalia’s partner’s parents’ golden anniversary – was the reason Thalia felt she couldn’t let go. Underneath it all was her belief system at work. If she didn’t hold on tight to each thread, she would lose control, and fail.

This is the power of inner work. By talking through our day-to-day concerns, we can uncover the mechanisms at work behind our thoughts, actions, and patterns. When we understand the mechanisms at work, we can begin to redirect our energies in ways that further our goals, rather than hold us back, and act with clarity.

For Thalia, uncovering her belief system was step one. “I can’t imagine letting go,” said Thalia, after our exercise, a little dismayed.

“But that’s great,” I said. “It’s time to celebrate! Those belief systems have done a great job. They’ve gotten you this far, right?” It’s only through understanding and appreciating our belief systems that we can fully grasp how they’ve worked. “Step two is taking what you’ve learned about your belief system and giving it a new job, like leveraging the people around you.”

And that’s what Thalia did. As we worked together, and as we began to address her underlying belief system, Thalia was able to see which issues she needed to attend to herself, and which were better left attended by her team. Space on her calendar and in her mind opened up so that she could actually enjoy the beautiful company she built and take her vision – and her company – to the next level.

When we gain internal clarity, the weather has a way of clearing up. To learn more about MettaWorks and what inner work can do you for you, read on here.

Rachel Rider founded MettaWorks in 2015 after a distinguished career in HR, receiving executive coaching certification from Columbia University, and extensive training in meditation, Somatic Experiencing, and Polarity Therapy. She is the author of Who You Are is How You Lead. 

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