More Than Anxiety

Ep 130 - Spring Mindset Reset: How to Stop Overthinking and Actually Reach Your Goals

• Megan Devito • Episode 130

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Feeling stuck, stressed, or unmotivated? 

It’s not just you—it’s winter! 

But spring is almost here, bringing longer days, fresh energy, and the perfect chance to reset. 

In this episode of More Than Anxiety, I’m breaking down how seasonal shifts impact your mood, motivation, and focus, and how to use that natural boost to revisit your goals (without guilt or pressure).

You’ll learn:
🌞 Why more daylight = more energy, better mood, and less stress
🌱 How to shake off winter blues and reset your nervous system

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Ambitious Overthinkers Anonymous is a community for high-achieving women ready to stop overthinking, manage stress, and build confidence. You can learn all about what's inside and sign up now HERE.

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Megan Devito:

Hey there, welcome to the More Than Anxiety podcast. I'm Megan Devito and I help ambitious women break out of the anxiety spiral so they can stop overthinking and actually enjoy life. This podcast is all about real talk, simple shifts and light bulb moments that'll change the way you think, feel and show up for yourself and everybody else in your life too. You'll get straight up truth, actionable steps and the inspiration to finally break free from the stress and second guessing. Let's get to it.

Megan Devito:

Hey there, welcome to another episode of More Than Anxiety. This is episode 130. I'm feeling springy, I'm feeling good today and that's what we're going to talk about in this week's episode. If you've been feeling kind of blah and not motivated for a while now, it makes sense. I'm going to explain why and how you're going to naturally come out of it, and if you don't believe me, just hang tight. I will tell you all the reasons and I promise you it's not as woo and weird as you think If we've not met before. My name is Megan. I am a life coach. I help women with great big goals and a lot of responsibilities balance their lives so they're less overwhelmed, less stressed out and anxious, and so they're finding more success and more time for fun and to take care of themselves. It is so much fun and such an honor to be able to talk with you today. So if this is your first time listening, welcome. I'm always excited to have new listeners here. And if you've listened to every episode and maybe you're on your second round, amazing, I love it that you are sticking around. Thank you so so much for your support.

Megan Devito:

So let's go ahead and get started and talk about why I don't know, I just feel springy, I have on my yellow sweatshirt and this is going to be the first episode in March. So let's talk about what's going on, why we're just going to shake off that wintry, like nasty blues feeling and make some progress today. So, as I said, if you've been feeling stuck, if you've been feeling unmotivated or maybe like you lost that spark that we get at the beginning of the year, it's like, "yay, new year, new me, and then it just falls apart. It's not you, it's winter and we're coming out of that. I realize it's still the first week of March, technically it's still winter, but in the whole, like social norms of life, I guess social norms of life. March is kind of the beginning of spring. I always think you know winter is like December, january, february, and we do March, april, may. That is spring. So first week of March we're going to go for it.

Megan Devito:

By the end of this episode you're going to understand why spring naturally makes you have more motivation, how you can use that energy in your personal life and in your professional life, and how you can start again yes, start over - again, even if it's your 10th or 100th time with no guilt and no pressure, because the more guilt and pressure you put on yourselves, the less motivated and the crappier you are to yourself. If you're like most people, let's not do that. Let's use this to our benefit. So let's talk first about why more light and how nature can actually improve your motivation without you having to do anything except for just be a normal human being Ready. What's up with the science with behind the seasons? We know that the winter blues are a real thing and we know that once it starts to get a little bit warmer out and a little bit lighter, we feel better.

Megan Devito:

But maybe you don't know why, and I always think, at least for me personally, I want to know why. I want to know why this happens. It's important. It helps me really believe it. I guess, if you're a skeptic, or if you're one of those people that are always like, yeah, that sounds great, but I'm not sure, let's get into it If you've noticed that everything feels easier when the sun is shining, that's not just in your head, it's actually biology, because the more daylight that we are surrounded by given, the more daylight that's happening around in us, the more serotonin and dopamine that our bodies actually produce. These are your brain's feel-good chemicals. You've heard about serotonin, you've heard about dopamine, and if you don't know what they actually do, they just make you feel good. So they also help you focus, though, so they help you be able to keep track on the activities or the goals that you have.

Megan Devito:

So this whole idea that we start our new goals in the darkest season of the year is really anti-nature or anti-natural cycles of our bodies and what we're supposed to be doing. There's a reason that bears hibernate in the winter, and maybe you've kind of felt like you're hibernating. Yeah, that's kind of what the world is telling us to do. Right, the earth goes to sleep, the leaves fall off of the trees, the sun isn't around as much, nature rests and we have this idea that we should go all in on our new goals and it's really kind of betting against ourselves. But now that we're in a season where there's a little bit more light and in just a few short weeks there's going to be a little more green on the trees we're going to have that focus, that motivation and that energy back that we might not have had all winter long.

Megan Devito:

Another thing that's really helpful and I realize a lot of people aren't like me you don't come inside and like refuse to go outside unless you absolutely have to until it's warm again. But maybe you've been outside. Great, I wish I was that person. I'm not. I'm chronically cold, but if you've been inside, you're starting to maybe be able to go outside more. It's not as freezing. It's eight degrees when I'm recording this today; it's still February and it's very sunny and very pretty, but I don't want to go outside. It's too cold. However, when this episode airs in March, there's a really good chance that it's going to be maybe in the upper thirties, the lower forties, maybe even the mid forties, maybe even the fifties, you never know in Indiana, but that fresh air getting outside and moving your body and that natural light will help reset your nervous system and your circadian rhythm.

Megan Devito:

What happens when we start to notice that we have that reset in our nervous system? When you're not feeling nervous and anxious and pent up and just kind of discombobulated all the time, it calms down your brain. And the reason that happens is because your body isn't carrying all that nervous energy. Your brain doesn't have to solve problems. It's able to, as we said, focus, find what's going well and to recenter on what you want. That's really important. And just the green on the trees, seeing those signs of growth all around us, just like those plants come back to life. When the sun starts coming out and the weather warms up and we start getting little baby leaves and the grass turns green again, we have this feeling of renewal and growth as well. At the same time, it's just a built-in reset button that we don't have to do anything except for pay attention to.

Megan Devito:

So I just wonder when was the last time that you felt a natural boost of energy from being outside or having the sun on your face? I will tell you it's not that it's not possible in the winter, right. People go skiing, people like to go build snowmen or be outside. Some people go outside and work out or run when it's cold out. That's not me and maybe it's not you, but you can, even in the winter, sit in a window and have sunlight on your face. I've been known to do that. Just sit there and close your eyes and let the sun pour in on you. That's really, really good for your body. Yes, you get vitamin D and all of that, but it also boosts your mood, it gives you energy and it helps you to sleep better at night. Wake up, open the curtains and let that sunshine in. It's a huge deal. And now, now that we're going into March, it's even a bigger deal because we're going to, we're getting more sunlight every single day, right, like we know that from the middle of December until the middle of June, the sun, we get more and more daylight, so let's enjoy it.

Megan Devito:

So how does this carry over into your goals? Maybe the goals that you set back in New Year's Day? Maybe goals that you set at some other time that you sort of lost track of? How does this all play in and why does the sun and the leaves on the tree and all that stuff. Is this even for real? Yes, let's just kind of think about what you think about spring, whether you like it or you look out and you're like, oh Lord, muddy dog prints. You're right. Both ways right. Your brain's going to find what it's looking for. So I want to challenge you to think of spring as a second chance. It's a second chance to start the goals that you looked at in January. It's a second chance to start refocusing on what you want to focus on yourself and what you need to do for yourself.

Megan Devito:

January puts way too much pressure on this fresh start thing. I keep saying this, but honestly, winter is the worst time to make big changes. Spring is where it's at. We're naturally wired for action in the spring. This is like bunnies and all those animals, like the spring babies. Right, it's a real thing. That action thing. It's like real action.

Megan Devito:

So think of your goals like seeds. If you plant them in the ground, we plant them in the spring. We don't plant them in the winter. They would be asleep. We don't plant them in the summer. They don't have enough time to grow. So if you plant them in January, they may not have had the right conditions to grow Right. I suppose there's probably something that grows in January I don't know, but for the most part they don't. Farmers plant their fields in the spring. I live in the middle of farm ground. I know that any minute they're going to be out plowing up the fields so that they can plant the seed doesn't know how it's going to grow, it just gets planted.

Megan Devito:

So what I also want you to look at is, even though we know that spring is a second chance, you might be saying, yes, but Megan, I don't know how to do this. I don't get it. I don't understand why I always have to start over. You're looking too far down the road. What we want to look at is taking a first step, and spring is your best chance, your first chance, your right now chance to say, okay, I'm going to put one step down. And let's just pause there and say, okay, that's one step. And you may have said, yeah, but I did one step in January.

Megan Devito:

The conditions weren't right for growth in January. It was a natural cycle. We're on the upswing right now. So this shift in energy isn't just about your personal goals, though right Like your personal goals might be to be more active, to eat better foods to do all those things. But if you're running a business, if you're working towards a goal in your corporate job, if you are trying to change jobs or you're trying to just get rid of the stress and the anxiety that you've been hanging onto for so long, this is the time to take action, because everything is setting you up for success. Nature is setting you up for success. So just because you didn't see them growing underground doesn't mean that those seeds weren't alive or that those tulip bulbs weren't alive. They've been there. Your goals have been there. They've just been waiting for the right conditions to take off and to grow. This is it. This is what spring's about.

Megan Devito:

So how do you wake up your goals with all of this spring energy that's going on? We want to do a little spring cleaning for your mind that can carry over into the rest of your life, because when you change what you're focusing on, when you change what you're thinking on purpose, you start to make changes. Yes, in your life around you, but also on the inside of you. You learn how to calm down your nervous system and to choose your thoughts and to create this space between what you feel and what you think that's really the power of coaching and something that I can teach you, whether it's in my group that I have, or whether it's one-on-one, and I'll talk more about that at the end of this episode. But the first thing I want you to do is to take time to reassess what your goals are.

Megan Devito:

What goal did you set for yourself back in January that still matters to you? If your goal was to do dry January and it's March, maybe it's time for a new goal. Maybe you didn't make it through January and you want to revisit that goal. Or maybe it's not important to you anymore, whatever that goal was for January, or and you want to revisit that goal, or maybe it's not important to you anymore, whatever that goal was for January or whenever you made it in the past. Is it still the right goal for you? It's okay. If it's not, you don't need to judge yourself for that.

Megan Devito:

We change. We change what we like, we adapt, we learn new things. That's all really important. Did you know that you can learn new things and change your mind anytime you want? I wish more people understood that. So if it doesn't feel exciting to you anymore, just ask yourself why? Why do I not care anymore. Maybe it needs a little tweak. Maybe you already accomplished it in some way or situations have changed in your life and it's not applicable to you anymore, okay. But if the answer is yeah, it's still really important and I have no idea what to do with it. That's when we just need to make a plan. Don't get overwhelmed with the details right now. Just ask yourself what was my goal before and is it still important to me? And whether it's yes or no, why is it important or why is it not important? That's step one. Step two is just adjust. What's one thing that you can do to make it easier right now to take one step forward right now. Not how do I accomplish everything? Just one, one step. What's one way you can make it easier?

Megan Devito:

So, for example, if your goal was to exercise more and instead of forcing yourself to go to the gym because, let's say, you hate the gym you've never found a gym that you liked, but you really want to exercise Guess what guys? It's a little bit warmer and you could probably put on a jacket or a coat and take a walk outside and let nature do the motivation for you, because there's something about going outside. Leave your phone and your AirPods at home. Just go outside and listen. Listen to the birds, listen to the wind, listen to whatever it is that's going on outside. Feel the wind on your skin. Yeah, it might still be cold at the beginning of March, but the sunshine's warm. Just feel that. Go out with no electronic devices and see what that's like for you, because that's natural motivation. It just hits different. So if you don't like the gym, don't do the gym. That's not a big deal.

Megan Devito:

If you've been thinking about your job and you're like I think I need to quit my job, I don't know if I can do one more day here. Okay, why is that important? Is it important or do you just feel burned out? Why do you want to stay? Why do you want to leave? And what's one thing I could do right now? Maybe the answer is I could get outside. I could go out and look and see if there's a job available, or I could start my own business. I could decide. You know what I'm really talented at this. I think I might consider starting a business. Or you know what I actually do like my job. I just need to have some boundaries. It just takes one thought and one action. That doesn't mean go out and do all the things in a day, right, it's just one adjustment.

Megan Devito:

The third thing I want you to do is to recommit. Decide right now that tiny action, just one. You have to commit. Though If you don't commit, if you say yeah, I think that's probably a good idea. That is very wishy-washy, and what has to happen for you to achieve any goal is to decide that it's important and to do the thing. I know that doesn't sound so great, does it? It's like there's this pause between what we know we need to do and what we want to do, but then actually doing requires a little bit more oomph or motivation, or thought work. I'm just here to tell you that that motivation that you're looking for, that feeling of yeah, I just can't wait, that's very fleeting. A lot of times we have it in the beginning and it tends to disappear when it gets difficult, or we think that's a great idea, but I just don't know how, so we hold ourselves back. There's so many different things that can keep you from moving forward. What I need you to do is to commit, and by committing I mean deciding and doing it. It's that simple, right, decide, do. That doesn't mean it's easy.

Megan Devito:

Again, this is where coaching is really, really valuable, because you have somebody that is following up with accountability and saying hey, you remember last week when we talked and you said you were going to do that, did you do it? And then you have to face your coach. This is really hard, right? You have to face your coach and you have to say no. And then, me as your coach I'm going to go, why not? What kept you from doing that? Tell me all the things. I want to know everything. Let's figure out what's keeping you stuck. Let's figure out why you're not doing it, and it usually comes back to your thoughts. It might come back to well, I was going to go apply for this job but my car broke down so I couldn't do that. I'm going to do it this week, okay, valid, but what day are you going to do it?

Megan Devito:

This week, as soon as you're done and having that accountability to be able to move forward, when maybe you don't feel that motivation yourself. Because what I've noticed in myself and working with my clients is that motivation is sort of a back-end experience. It's sort of like hindsight A lot of times, going into something that feels new, or that feels difficult, or that feels scary. That motivation isn't there because your brain is doing everything to fight against you and to keep you stuck and from moving forward. What has to happen is you have to do it scared and even though you're not sure what you're doing. So you have to be willing to fail, maybe willing to be embarrassed, and then you have to go in hindsight and say, hey, what actually went well about that? How do you feel now? And really start finding that motivation on the back end. I can help you do all of that.

Megan Devito:

So I want you to remember that even when you water a plant, it doesn't necessarily mean that it's going to happen right away, right? So you have a goal and you're going to have to keep doing it for a while before you see the results. Now, that's not always true. I know there's always exceptions, but I want you to think about this, like if you planted tulip bulbs in the fall, or something like that. Or you're going to go outside and you're going to plant some seeds to grow flowers, maybe a little further than March, right? But let's say, for example, there's this bulb under the ground, it's been there all winter, it's just sitting there. It's not dead, it's just hibernating and it rains, but there's nothing there yet. There's nothing there. I know those tulip bulbs are there. They don't grow the first time you water them, so you might not find the success that you want the first time you go after it.

Megan Devito:

This is why finding that sustainable mission forward is going to help you. It's not going to be instant, and that's okay. We just want to take small, consistent steps forward, using the new energy of the springtime, of the sunshine, of longer days, warmer weather, all of that green coming back into the earth to help you grow right along with everything that's going outside. So let's talk about some small actions that you can take. One thing I'm going to challenge you to do is to get outside for 10 minutes today, unless it's like freezing, cold and sleeting which I know that can happen in March as well but I want you to go outside someday this week and find some sunshine, get some daylight, get some air on your skin, walk around your neighborhood, go in the woods, stand in the sun, let yourself feel that natural boost of energy and the serotonin and the dopamine all come back into you and see what happens with your mindset from the time that you step outside and, when you go back in, really pay attention to that.

Megan Devito:

What was I thinking when I went outside? Is it like Megan said, I have to do this and I think it's stupid, and I have so much on my to-do list, this is just a waste of time, but I'm gonna do it. How did you feel when you came back in? What were you thinking about? How did your body feel? This is important. You can see the shift. This is that benefit of hindsight. You can see it in that one small experiment.

Megan Devito:

And then, when you have that insight going, when you come back in, that's when I want you to take that one step forward in towards your goal. Just one, just one, maybe it's. I checked to see if there was a job availability, or I decided to look at my bank account to see how long I could be unemployed while I looked for a new job, or I decided to say yes to getting the certification that I want, or I decided that today was the perfect day to finally take all of that stuff to goodwill. I decided today was the day that I was going to make dinner instead of go to McDonald's. It doesn't matter, it's your goal. But once you've come back inside and you've got that little bit of dopamine, that's when I want you to take that step forward. That's that natural push that you're going to get. I also want you to recognize there is a time for your goals. That's right for you.

Megan Devito:

I've had a lot of clients that have made a goal at the beginning of our coaching container and they thought this was their goal. And we had a few weeks into coaching and we weren't really focusing on those goals. I would kind of redirect them and say, hey, this was your goal. And they'd say, yeah, but this is going on in my life. Life is going to throw you curve balls, and that's okay.

Megan Devito:

Sometimes we make a goal and it's sort of like a vision board, where if you have a vision board mine's actually right next to me right now If you have a vision board, you have things up there and you're like I mean I want this, but I'm just not sure how to get there. And in the meantime to get there, and in the meantime you know, something happened. I ended up with COVID, or my husband got laid off or we got transferred and now we have to move. So sometimes those goals just get set aside for a while. That doesn't mean they're dead. You can pick up on those goals whenever you want if they're still important to you. We just have to bring it back to life, and sometimes the best time to do that is when things change outside.

Megan Devito:

And I'm just going to keep going back to this idea that spring is kind of magic. Even though it can be cold and muddy, there is this new energy that comes in the amount of sunshine that you get and being able to be outside and just to be able to watch, even from your window, as the leaves come back on the trees. It's sort of magic, isn't it? So what's the one goal that you want to revive this month? If you think about where you started in January and where you are at the beginning of March, is there a goal that you set to the side? Is there a goal that you're like oh, this has been on my list for years, or maybe it's something that just dawned on you that you're like, yeah, actually, what I really want is this new thing. It doesn't matter. I would love for you to send me a message. Buzzsprout, where I have my podcast, has this really cool button called fan mail. I think you can mail me there and send me messages there. You can also message me on LinkedIn, and you can find me on Instagram or Facebook.

Megan Devito:

Tell me what is the goal that you want to revive. What are you going after? I'm going to cheer for you. If I do nothing else, even if I'm not your coach, I'm going to cheer like crazy for you.

Megan Devito:

I absolutely believe that we need every single person running at their personal best, especially right now where we are in history. I need you to feel fired up. I need you to feel good. I need you to know what you want and to go for it. It's so important to have you living for all of the purpose that you were made for. I absolutely believe that everybody was made for an incredible purpose and the more people we can get to live that purpose, the better. So if you want additional support, there are two ways that you can work with me.

Megan Devito:

If you want structure and support in an amazing group of women who also have big plans, who tend to overthink themselves into the ground and make themselves really anxious and stressed, I have a group. It's called Ambitious Overthinkers Anonymous. It's AOA. It is a monthly group where you can come and you can stay for a month or you can stay for five years if you want. It's a low fee group. If this is more of like I'm into the idea of a course and group coaching and really having that support in a forum, really celebrating and doing all those fun things with other women, that group is for you, it's affordable, it is impactful, you get the best of my teaching background and my coaching background all in one place.

Megan Devito:

And if you are looking for a deeper transformation and you want some really personalized, like laser focused techniques, I do one-on-one coaching with my clients as well. I will take your specific challenges and help create a plan with you that works for you and your life, so that you're going to stop spinning in your thoughts and the way that your body feels and we're going to start seeing real changes in your confidence, in your mindset, in your goals and in your levels of stress and anxiety. Plus, I'm going to make sure that you have a lot more time for yourself and for fun. So here's how to get started with that. You can absolutely jump on LinkedIn or on Instagram or Facebook and message me and just say I need to talk with you, or you can go to my website it is megandevito. com. Go to the work with me tab and schedule time for us to talk. It's gonna be great. I'm just gonna hear all about what you want talk about, what's getting you stuck right now and what's going to help you move forward.

Megan Devito:

I hope this episode inspired you and gave you a little bit of hope that great things are coming, because they are. We are on the cusp of spring of a lot of great things and I hope you feel good. I hope you're ready to go outside, even if it's chilly. So thank you for listening. Thank you for sharing this podcast with somebody else who needs it. I will be back again to talk to you next week.

Megan Devito:

Quiet your mind, stop overthinking and actually enjoy your life. There are two ways I can help. One, I have a group called Ambitious Overthinkers Anonymous. It's my monthly coaching community where you'll get live coaching, real talk and a super supportive crew who get it. And the second way is through one-on-one coaching. So if you're ready for a deep, personalized support to help you feel calm, confident and in control head over there, you can find both of these places in the show notes. Just click the link and let's talk.