Dr. Celia
00:00 – 00:15
Hey there, Biz Mom. Welcome back to the Biz Mom Live podcast. I’m your host, Dr. Celia, and we’re going to be continuing with listener Q&A month. So today’s topic came from another listener who reached out about keeping momentum and motivation after interruptions.
Dr. Celia
00:15 – 00:44
And this question is so good that I’m actually splitting my answer again into two episodes because there’s just so much information to be unpacked here. Today we’re going to be talking about like what’s happening in your brain when life interrupts your business rhythm, because understanding the psychology is the key to everything else. And then next week, we’re going to dive into the practical comeback strategies. By the end of today’s episode, you’re going to understand why your brain makes interruptions feel like a total disaster when they’re just really just like temporary pauses.
Dr. Celia
00:44 – 01:02
And that understanding is going to change everything about how you handle them. So the truth about interruption is that no one is really talking about. And let me start by telling you something that’s probably sitting heavy in your chest right now. The feeling of like, okay, I was on a roll with my business and now I can’t seem to get back into it.
Dr. Celia
01:03 – 01:26
And that might’ve happened like if you went on vacation, came back or you were like doing something in your business and then like the kids got sick and now you’re trying to get back into it or some other example from your life where you were doing so great and then now it’s a struggle just to get back into your business. And here’s what’s going on. Your brain is doing what brains do, which is focusing on what feels wrong instead of what is working.
Dr. Celia
01:27 – 01:44
And let me tell you what happened to me three months ago to give you an example. I got hit with like a stomach bug that knocked me out for like a full week. And I was in such a good rhythm, like recording podcast episodes, staying consistent with my newsletter, engaging with my community daily. Like I felt like I was finally hitting my stride as an entrepreneur.
Dr. Celia
01:44 – 01:59
And then suddenly I couldn’t even look at my computer without feeling nauseous. By day three of lying on the couch, my brain started telling me these stories that like, your audience is going to forget all about you. Other coaches are posting every day while you’re lying here doing nothing. You lost all the momentum.
Dr. Celia
01:59 – 02:14
It’s going to be hard to come back from this. You’re going to have to start over from scratch. And hearing this internally going in my brain, like the dread was actually almost worse than the actual illness. However, I had built my business with systems and relationships that could handle a week-long pause.
Dr. Celia
02:15 – 02:37
And when I came back to it, my audience did not disappear, my clients did not fire me, and the momentum I thought I lost was actually still there, just temporarily paused. Here’s what happens psychologically when we get interrupted. Our brains are wired to notice what’s different, what’s changed, and what’s potentially threatening our survival. It’s like an ancient protective mechanism.
Dr. Celia
02:37 – 03:03
So when your routine gets interrupted, your brain immediately focuses on what you’re not doing anymore instead of recognizing that you already built your business so it’s still going to stay intact if you take a week-long break. It’s kind of like if you had like a beautiful garden and then like a storm knocks one flower bed and your brain would focus entirely on that one flower bed that’s damaged and tell you like, oh my gosh, the whole garden is ruined. Like this is horrible. When actually like most of your garden is fine.
Dr. Celia
03:04 – 03:14
And our brain likes to tell us stories like, I’m starting from zero again. Everyone else is ahead of me. I lost all my progress. My audience has moved on and I’ll never get back to where I was.
Dr. Celia
03:14 – 03:33
But I want you to hear this. None of those stories are true. It’s just your brain trying to protect you from the disappointment of assuming the worst. And when it’s assuming the worst and the worst happened, then your brain is just like, all right, I protected you because I prepared you for the disaster, which actually most of the time won’t come.
Dr. Celia
03:34 – 03:55
So your brain thinks if it prepares you for worst case scenario, you will not be caught off guard. But what’s actually happening is that these catastrophic thoughts are keeping you stuck longer than the actual interruption ever would. I have a framework to help you come back from the interruptions, which I call RESET. And today I’m going to walk you through the first three steps because they’re the foundation for everything else.
Dr. Celia
03:56 – 04:13
And the last two steps will be taught on the next episode. So the first step is recognize where you actually are. The first step is getting honest about your current reality, not the story that your brain is telling you about your reality. When I came back from that stomach bug, my brain was insisting that I lost everything.
Dr. Celia
04:14 – 04:25
But when I actually looked at the facts, here’s what was true. My email list was the same size as it was a week earlier. My existing clients are still happy and engaged. I had three podcast episodes already recorded and scheduled.
Dr. Celia
04:25 – 04:40
My systems and processes were still intact and the relationships I built were still there. Nothing disappeared after having one week of the stomach flu. So recognizing where you’re at, this is an exercise that I do to help me through this. Get out a piece of paper and make two columns.
Dr. Celia
04:41 – 05:05
On the left, write down what your brain is telling you that you’ve lost. On the right, write down what’s actually still there. Most of the time, you’ll discover that your foundation is much stronger than what your emotions are telling you. and if you’re not able to do this exercise just come back into the episode show notes and the exercise should be on my website on episode show notes because I know some of you are probably listening to this while you’re cooking dinner or driving so might not be
Dr. Celia
05:05 – 05:22
the best time so just because you may not be able to do it in the moment doesn’t mean that you won’t be able to do it later so I strongly encourage you to try this exercise Because when I did this exercise, I realized I did not lose my business. I just paused my daily activities for a week. Everything I built was still there waiting for me.
Dr. Celia
05:24 – 05:41
So the second step is evaluate your energy and capacity. And this is where most people go wrong in their comeback. Like they try to jump back into the same intensity they had before the interruption without considering that they just might need a gentler re-entry. And here’s a story to explain what I mean.
Dr. Celia
05:42 – 05:56
Like a few years ago, I got really sick and was like out of commission for like six weeks. And it wasn’t just like a quick bug. It was one of those situations where my body basically forced me to stop completely. And when I finally started to feel better, I was so eager to feel back to normal.
Dr. Celia
05:56 – 06:13
Like I was watching other entrepreneurs posting and launching and growing their business while I was stuck in bed. And like, I felt this intense pressure to just like want to catch up immediately. But what I did not account for is that my nervous system was still in recovery mode. I had been running on whatever energy my body could spare for healing.
Dr. Celia
06:13 – 06:32
And even though I was feeling physically better, I was still emotionally and mentally depleted. When I tried to force full productivity immediately, I felt frustrated and scattered. My brain felt foggy, I couldn’t focus for long periods, and I kept getting overwhelmed by tasks that used to feel easy. And that’s when I learned the importance of doing an honest assessment first.
Dr. Celia
06:33 – 06:45
Instead of assuming I should just be back to normal, I started asking myself these questions. The first question is, what’s my actual energy level right now? Not what I think it should be. How much capacity do I realistically have this week?
Dr. Celia
06:47 – 06:59
What does my nervous system need to feel safe and regulated? Am I trying to rush back because of the guilt or am I actually ready? And the truth is, interruptions do not disrupt our schedules. They often disrupt our nervous systems too.
Dr. Celia
06:59 – 07:23
So when your nervous system is dysregulated, forcing productivity is like trying to drive a car with the emergency brake on. So the third step of this episode is starting smaller than feels right. And this is going to be like the hardest part for most of us because it goes against every instinct we have about getting back on track. When you’re coming back from an interruption, your brain wants to prove that you’re back by doing everything you used to do.
Dr. Celia
07:24 – 07:41
But that approach usually leads to overwhelm and another crash. Instead, I want you to start with 50% of what feels right. And what I mean by this is like if you think you handled three work sessions this week, plan for one or two. If you want to post on social media daily, commit to three times a week.
Dr. Celia
07:42 – 08:10
If you’re ready to take on new projects, maybe start with maintaining what you already have. And this works because starting smaller gives you early wins that rebuild your confidence and momentum without overwhelming your system. Like if your brain can see that like, all right, I can do this, it’s okay, then it will start wanting to do more. So when I came back from like that stomach bug that I mentioned earlier, instead of trying to record three podcast episodes in one week, which felt normal to me, I just committed to recording one.
Dr. Celia
08:11 – 08:33
And instead of posting daily on social media back then, I just committed to doing like one post that week. So those small wins reminded my brain that I was capable, which gave me energy for slightly bigger challenges that following week. But here’s what I see happening all the time. Mom, business owner starts smaller, see what’s working and then immediately think, great, I could do more now and jump back into full intensity.
Dr. Celia
08:34 – 09:01
Then they burn out again and they feel like they’re failing. The magic is staying in the smaller commitment longer than it feels necessary. Build a solid foundation of small wins before you expand. So and the next part I’m going to be talking about is emotional work and this is like the true work that generally helps with you know getting back into momentum even after you take a pause or have a lot of interruptions and here’s what I wish someone had
Dr. Celia
09:01 – 09:29
told me years ago that the practical strategies are only half the work the other half is internal and emotional Every interruption brings up feelings like guilty about the past, fear of falling behind, shame about not being stronger. Most of us skip over these feelings and jump straight back into action. But unprocessed emotions have a way of sabotaging our comeback effort. And I’m going to go through a couple of emotions to give you guys like a better idea of what I mean.
Dr. Celia
09:30 – 09:46
So take, for example, the guilt, like I should have been handling this better. This guilt assumes that you have more control than you actually did. Like life happens to us sometimes, not because of it. You cannot control getting sick or family emergencies or the external changes that disrupt your routine.
Dr. Celia
09:46 – 10:01
Like I remember feeling so guilty during that six week illness that part of the guilt was not being able to work. Another part felt guilty for all the opportunities I thought I was missing while I was recovering. But here’s what I learned. Guilt about things outside your control is just wasted energy.
Dr. Celia
10:01 – 10:14
Like, what you can control is how you respond once you’re ready to respond. So let’s take fear. And fear can look like, what if I can’t get back to where I was? So this fear assumes what you were is the only place worth being.
Dr. Celia
10:15 – 10:35
But what if where you’re going is actually better than where you are? Every interruption teaches you something about resilience, adaptability, or what really matters. You’re not coming back as the same person, you’re coming back as a stronger, wiser version of you. After that stomach bug, I realized about how much anxiety I’ve been carrying about maintaining perfect consistency.
Dr. Celia
10:35 – 10:52
That force break taught me that my business was more resilient than I thought, and that gave me permission to build in more sustainable rhythms going forward. And the last example I’m going to give is shame. And shame may look like this. Everyone else seems to be handling this better than me.
Dr. Celia
10:52 – 11:12
And this shame is based on comparing your internal expectations to other people’s external presentations. Like, you have no idea what’s going on with other people who are struggling behind the scenes as well. And even if someone else did handle a similar situation differently, it doesn’t make your response wrong. We all have different nervous systems, different support systems, and different life contexts.
Dr. Celia
11:13 – 11:36
The mom entrepreneur you see posting consistently on social media might be going through her own struggles that she’s not sharing. Or the other entrepreneur who seems to be bouncing back quickly might have different resources or support than you do. Like your journey is your journey and your timeline is your timeline. So understanding the psychology changes everything about how you approach getting back to your own rhythm.
Dr. Celia
11:36 – 12:02
Instead of fighting against your brain’s tendency to catastrophize, you can expect it and plan for it instead. And instead of rushing back to prove that you’re fine, you can honor what you’ve been through and give yourself time and space that you actually need. So next week we’re going to dive into the practical side, the final two steps of the RESET framework and the particular comeback strategies for different types of interruptions. But for now, I want you to practice these three first steps.
Dr. Celia
12:02 – 12:24
Recognize where you are versus what your brain is telling you. Evaluate your real energy and capacity and start smaller than going back to full capacity. So I hope this episode helps you understand that those overwhelming feelings that you’re having about your interruption, they’re completely normal and they do not mean anything is actually wrong. Your brain is just doing what brains do, trying to keep you safe by assuming the worst.
Dr. Celia
12:24 – 12:53
But now that you understand what’s happening, you can work with your brain instead of against it. And next week, we’re going to talk about how to establish new rhythms that work with your current reality, how to trust the comeback process, and the particular strategies for different types of interruptions. And if you want a deeper dive on this, please check out Bisman Balance Blueprint, where in 30 days, we reset your schedule, lighten your mental load, and you follow through on the most important tasks that you need in your business. The link will be in the show notes.
Dr. Celia
12:54 – 13:00
Until then, remember, you are loved, you are capable, and that interruption does not erase your progress. I’ll talk to you next time.
