E024 Living with Intention: What Happened When I Stopped Overthinking Everything

Many of us say we want life to feel lighter, yet rarely notice how tightly we are managing everything until something disrupts our routine.

If you keep thinking ‘why does this feel so hard right now?’ you might simply be in a different season. That’s completely normal. This $7 Season Mapping Quiz will help you work out where you are and what to focus on next. 

Living with Intention: What Happened When I Stopped Overthinking Everything 

In this episode of The GA Wellness Podcast, I reflect on what happened when I stopped checking responsibility, timing and productivity before saying 'yes'. What began as a cruise holiday shifted how I approached play and movement. I noticed what changed when I stopped overthinking and simply joined in.

You will learn why play becomes easier when the body is not in protection mode, how novelty and movement support healthy dopamine without a stress spike and why environment, season and capacity shape what feels possible.

📋 What we covered:

• The moment my usual programming was disrupted
• Why play feels difficult when the nervous system carries responsibility
• How interruption shifts energy without “finding more” of it
• Energy transference and what that looks like in real life
• The role of polyvagal theory in curiosity and connection
• Why self-care must support the nervous system before fitness feels natural
• How Maslow’s Hierarchy showed up in real time
• Hustle-based dopamine versus novelty-based dopamine
• What trying something without a reason revealed about safety
• Why seasons shape what feels possible

🧰 Living with Intention: Reflection Guide 
A guide to help you pause, look at your days and move forward with more clarity.

👉 https://gawellness.myflodesk.com/livingwithintention

🧭 Season Check-In Quiz
A guided quiz to help you understand which season your nervous system is in right now and what support may be helpful.
👉 https://gawellness.myflodesk.com/seasonquiz

🌟 Key takeaways:

• Play becomes accessible when the body recognises safety
• Energy shifts through interruption
• Environment influences capacity
• Novelty and low-pressure movement support momentum
• Joy does not need justification

🔁 Episodes referenced in this episode:

E004 Self-Care
E007 Let’s Talk Habits
E008 The Myth of Balance
E020 Create Calm On Purpose
E021 Living with Intention: I Did What I Said I’d Do and This Is What Changed
E022 Living with Intention: When My Body Finally Felt Supported at Home
E023 Living with Intention: What Changed in My Relationships When I Let Go

🎧 Related listening:

E002 Hydration
E016 Mobility Matters: Restorative Movement for Busy Women

By the end of this episode, you will understand what changed when I stopped overmanaging my time and started saying 'yes'. You will be invited to notice where you are gripping tightly and what small change could make your day feel lighter. 

📱 Let’s Connect 

• All links, resources and ways to connect are here https://linktr.ee/GAWellness

🔔 If this episode spoke to you, lovely, please:

• Follow the podcast.
• Leave a quick review (it truly helps!)
• Share with a bestie who’s ready to reclaim wellness on her own terms.

 © 2026 GA Wellness with Georgia Ann™. All content is for educational purposes only and is not medical or psychological advice. 

Transcript

E024 Living with Intention: What Happened When I Stopped Overthinking Everything
Georgia Ann 

Opening 

If I'm being honest, I didn't sit down on the cruise thinking, I'm going to rediscover play. I was just trying to breathe a little bit more easily and not feel so switched on all the time, but something unexpected happened. I started doing things without overthinking them and without really needing a reason. My body responded in a way I wasn't expecting and this episode is about that shift, what it felt like and why it mattered more than I realised. 

Podcast Intro 

Welcome to the GA Wellness Podcast. Small steps, lasting change. I'm your host, Georgia Ann, health coach, solo mum and a woman who's lived through the chaos, the curveballs and the craving for something steadier. After 20 years in the fitness industry and my own journey through grief, motherhood and starting over, I've learned that real wellness isn't about doing more, it's about doing what matters. Each week, we cut through the noise and get real with simple, doable tools to help you feel stronger, calmer and more like you. This isn't about perfection, it's about steady soul led progress because you deserve wellness that fits into your full life, not just one version of it. Let's dive in.  

Welcome Back 
Hey, lovely. Welcome back to the GA Wellness Podcast. I hope you're feeling well as you're listening to this and that today's episode brings a little exhale with it. The kind where you feel your shoulders drop because you didn't even realise that were tense to begin with. Okay and also, if you're new here, you've landed right in the middle of the very first arc of 2026 and if I'm gonna be honest, this episode kind of feels like a sequel or maybe it's one of those miniseries sequels because there's been a few extra parts into this arc and if you're thinking arc, sequel, miniseries? Georgia, are you like doing a movie now? No, but there's also the intention behind this in terms of how I structure everything. 

Why This Arc Has Felt Like a Sequel 
I think it was back in episode 19 where I mentioned that I really love movies and so for context, at the end of last year, I think it was in episode 20, I shared that I wanted to live this year more intentionally. I talked about stepping away from all the ‘shoulds’ and the pressure and honestly, I didn't really expect what was going to happen next. That episode actually quickly became one of my most listened to episodes on the podcast and showed me this topic is something really important. This idea of living with intention isn't just something I'm thinking about. It's something that you're actually craving more of too. 

The Lived Experience So Far 
So, when I came back this year, I knew I wanted to share what actually happened when I followed through with that intention. The real lived experience of what changed when I stopped running on autopilot and actually started letting my body lead.  

Over the summer break, I stepped away and went on a cruise and being in that environment, out on open water sparked more than I ever expected and over the last few episodes, we've been unpacking this together.  

In particular, what it felt like for me to really just get out of my head and more into my body. How digestion and energy started to change when my body felt more supported and then what happened when it received something that it hadn't in a long time, which was real consistency. I felt this in particular because I went gluten and lactose free for 11 days straight and I finally let my body speak. 

Where This Episode Fits 
This was the first gift because once that settled in, other things started actually opening up for me as well. So last week I shared how my clarity shifted when I wasn't constantly anticipating or managing everything. How relationships started forming more easily and yes, being on a cruise making connections is quite easy, but the biggest shift for me was actually the relationship with my daughter.  

So, if that has kind of sparked some curiosity for you, I’d definitely go back and listen to that episode after this one and I really have more to share and this is where we're going to go today. We're going to talk about what happened when in that same environment, I let myself step out of my grown up mum head for a moment. What shifted when I loosened the grip and quite literally break the shackles around movement and play. So, grab your cuppa, get comfy, and let's finish this chapter together. 

Setting the Scene 
Okay, so I'm going to set the scene for you here. We hadn't even left port yet and already, for the first time in a very long time, I felt my usual programming get properly disrupted and I'm using that word on purpose because that is exactly how I felt. So yeah, were still docked in Sydney and the ship hadn't moved. We'd literally just stepped on board and decided to go and explore the ship and start orientating ourselves on board. This alone actually felt like a bit of a ‘wow’. 

Rollerskating Before We Even Left Port 
If you haven't been on a ship or boat before, it is literally like a floating city. So we wandered around up to the sports area and noticed there was roller skating and Ellie, of course, was really keen to start.  

So I asked one of the staff attendants and he said, ‘yep, no worries, I'll book her in for the next session. Then he turned to me and said, ‘are you going as well?’ I kind of froze, not because of the skating itself. Ellie and I love roller skating together at home. It's one of our favourite winter activities. It is so nostalgic for me because I remember as a kid going roller skating quite a bit and so it brought back a lot of memories and doing that with Ellie now really brings that nostalgia in and plus it's movement, which is also fun. So that part wasn't really the issue. It was more this internal voice that popped up going, ‘but we haven't even left port yet’. I hadn't planned to do anything yet.  

If you heard me say before, I'm a planner, so this was kind of where that mentality was coming from. So, yeah, I hadn't actually mentally arrived onto the boat yet. I was still in the mode of, let's just get settled and first orientate myself cause I've got a terrible sense of direction. 

Practical Thoughts and That One Line 
So, you know, I need a bit of time to kind of work out where everything is and very practical thought here, ‘what if the ship starts moving and I'm on skates? Am I going to fall?’ So clearly my face gave all this away because he laughed and said, ‘go on, you're on holidays. Live a little’. Actually, I think he might have said ‘vacation’, but the same thing applies. So that sentence literally stopped me in my tracks. I remember thinking, hang on a second, I'm the fun mum. Well, I mean, I think I am. So I said, ‘okay, yes, let's do this’.  

So, I put the skates on Ellie and I went out there and were literally roller skating while the ship had started sailing away from Sydney Harbour. Did I fall over? No, but I was a bit unsteady. I mean, you could tell were on water. 

The White Knuckle Release Moment 
That moment, that exact moment, was the first time I thought to myself, ‘omg, I'm free!’ I'm free to do what feels good without checking it off my mental list of rules or the ‘shoulds’ and all of that and it literally felt like I'd loosened my white knuckles for the first time in a long time and I didn't even realise how tight they were until that actual moment.  

I want to pause here and ask you, have you had a moment where you realised you were white knuckling and literally felt it release? Maybe not exactly the same way, but maybe a variation? Or maybe there was a moment where you felt you had to pause or had a little ping inside? 

If This Sounds Familiar 
It's the part of you that checks the timing, energy and responsibility before checking in with the desire of what it is you're about to do. If this sounds familiar, you're in the right space and it usually just means your nervous system has been busy holding a lot for a long time and that's actually why this moment mattered so much for me, because it's what happened to my body when I let loose enough to let play back in and yes, there's some science behind this as well. 

Why This Feels So Different in the Body 
Okay, so let's talk about why this feels so different and why this felt so different in my body because there's a really important piece here that often gets missed. When your nervous system has been in a long season of responsibility, planning and holding things together, it's constantly using energy just to keep things running.  

It's tracking what needs to be done next, who needs you, what might go wrong, what you could be forgetting. Even though you're resting, your body can still be working. So when people say things like ‘just have fun or you should loosen up more’, it can actually feel a little bit irritating because you’re probably thinking, but with what energy? 

Energy Transference 
Okay, and I'm going to lean in here and share something with you because this really landed for me and explains a lot about what I was feeling. I've been learning a little bit lately from Tony Robbins about this idea that having the energy to do something isn't actually about getting more energy, it's actually about the energy transference and when I first heard that, I thought, you know what, that actually makes a lot of sense. 

How often do we say, I don't have the energy to do that right now? When really it's not the energy that isn't there, it's just stuck or tied up or sitting in a story we've been telling ourselves for a while, very much like the story I told myself on the ship when I said, but we haven't even left port yet. That was my barrier and the story I was telling myself as to why I shouldn't be going roller skating yet and I mean, for you, this could look something like, I'm tired or this is too much, or I'll just do it later when things have settled down.  

Pattern Interrupt and Capacity 
what I'm realising is that the motivation and willpower are there. I mean, it means something to you, so you've got the will to do it or the need to do it but sometimes all you need is a little interruption to kickstart it. Think of it like a moment that breaks the pattern. Your nervous system has been running on autopilot and that disruption can be physical, it can be playful, it can be something as simple as doing something you didn't plan for yet, which is exactly what happened to me on the ship.  

I didn't wake up with more energy. I didn't suddenly become a different variation of myself. My energy shifted because the environment had shifted and I had a breakthrough. Those simple words of ‘go on, you're on holidays’ was my breakthrough. When I look back, I didn't find more energy. It was a combination of the environment, circumstances and influence of people around me. I was able to move my energy around. I'll talk about this more properly in the next arc because it becomes really important there, but it felt right to mention it here as well. This was one of those moments where I realised, oh, so this is why things shifted and my mindset shifted from exploration to ‘let's just do it’. 

Polyvagal Theory and Play 
Here's the other piece that really helped me make sense of this from a nervous system perspective. Play only becomes available when your body feels safe enough to stop scanning for a threat. This is where polyvagal theory comes in. When your nervous system is in a more protective state, your brain is prioritising survival. It's thinking about efficiency, responsibility and risk. That's why everything feels so serious and that's why fun feels optional or indulgent and that's why play can almost feel childish or responsible when you're already feeling stretched and slight pause here. How many times have you felt it's childish to play on the swings or to do things with your kids on the playground because you're not that age anymore? We all feel it, but play is actually so good for your nervous system. 

Ventral Vagal and Why Joy Does Not Need Justification 
So in my Mobility Matters arc, I explained how Ellie and I love going to the outdoor gym, which she calls a stretching playground. Anyway, what I'm getting at is when your nervous system does shift to a state of safety, guess what happens? Some of your fundamental thoughts come back. Curiosity, flexibility, social connection, and play in particular. This is your ventral vagal state, and it's the part of the nervous system that supports connection, creativity and exploration. It's also the state where learning feels safer and where joy doesn't need justification. 

Gamification and Learning 
Side note here as well. How many times have we heard that kids learn faster through gamification? So since Ellie has been playing some online educational games, her maths skills have skyrocketed. So much so that she's been given stretch work in class. So there's some real evidence to this and I've actually touched on this before, way back in episode four, when I first introduced the nervous system and why everything feels easier once it feels safe. 

Why Self Care Comes Before Fitness in HNSF 
This is exactly why in my HNSF method, self-care sits just before fitness and movement. HNSF stands for hydration, nutrition, self-care and fitness and that order really matters because self-care, at its core, is nervous system support.  

If your nervous system doesn't feel safe, forcing yourself to do something fun or just move your body usually feels like another thing on the to do list and it just doesn't feel fun at all. Your body needs to feel supported and when it does, movement doesn't feel like something you have to do, it becomes something you actually want to do and honestly, this one shift explains so much of what happened to me on the ship in this season. 

Seasons and Environment Work Together 
Yes, I'm very deliberately using the word season here because our seasons change all the time. What feels normal, doable or even necessary in one season can feel completely different in another and this isn't a new concept we've chatted about. I've spoken about seasons before and I've lived this many times over.  

What felt new for me was experiencing this particular season in an environment that was actually set up to support it. Meals were prepared specifically for me, opportunities to connect with new people were built in and I had space to create new experiences with Ellie without juggling everything else in the background.  

It made me realise how much our season and our environment work together and how helpful it can be to actually name the season you're in, rather than expecting yourself to operate like you're still in a different one. I'll come back to this later because I've created something that helps you explore this if you're curious. For now, just hold onto that thought because this also brings me straight back to Maslow's hierarchy of needs, which I introduced way back in the first six episodes. 

Maslow, HNSF, and the Next Layer Opening Up 
So over this arc we've been reintroducing Maslow again and weaving it into the HNSF Method as I've been experiencing it in real time. I've spoken about nourishment, hydration and relationships and when those layers are supported, you naturally start moving up the pyramid.  

So for me, once those needs were met, the next layer that opened up was fitness and movement. I could engage with that happily because there was little or no effort required and if you thought I was finished with the science, ha. No, I've still got another layer for you. 

Dopamine, Novelty, and Gentle Momentum 
Okay, so there's also a neurochemical piece here that really matters. When we engage in low pressure, novelty and movement, the brain releases dopamine, which is very different to the hustle or achievement based dopamine.  

This kind of dopamine supports curiosity, motivation and momentum without the stress spike. It's the difference between pushing yourself to do something and being gently pulled towards it and that's exactly how it felt on the ship. I wasn't trying to regulate myself, I wasn't trying to add joy or I wasn't trying to fix or heal anything. My nervous system suddenly had enough space to explore and that's where we're about to head next. 

Trying Things I Never Thought I Would 
So once my cruising cherry was officially popped, I guess you could call it that, I started doing things I honestly never thought I would. One of the biggest things was Ifly. Yep, it's the skydiving simulator. Ellie was actually the catalyst for this because she really wanted to give it a go and yes, before anyone panics, I did my responsible parent homework first. I then had this moment of, ‘you know what, I'm gonna do it too’ and it was exhilarating! Like properly exhilarating. You know how I mentioned earlier that I felt like the shackles had come off? This was that feeling in real time, that sense of freedom of being lifted out of your own head and just being in the moment. It was wild and I loved it. 

Flowrider and Being out of my Comfort Zone 
There was also Flowrider. Okay, very different experience and let's just say I won't be taking up surfing anytime soon but here's what surprised me. I tried it. I fully stepped out of my comfort zone and I didn't care. There was no internal commentary about whether I was good enough, which I wasn't, but and there's also no pressure to perform, no story running in the background. It was just fun and it was a shared experience with Ellie, who, by the way, absolutely slayed it. Like, of course she did. 

A Hall Pass for the Gym 
I also did something else which was a little outside the box. I brought Ellie to the gym with me. Now, normally kids in gyms are a big no-no. After chatting to one of the trainers explaining that I'm a gym instructor by trade and that I knew Elly's limits, we got a hall pass to use at any time.  

Honestly, I kept thinking of something a wise woman once said to me, ‘Georgia, you don't ask, you don't get’. Now, as you know, working out wasn't new for me, but working out in that environment with my little girl absolutely was. We still talk about it. Walking on treadmills, looking at the ocean. One of those pinch me surreal moments you don't forget. 

The Pace of Yes 
Just for context, on that ship, there was also laser tag, dodgems, table tennis, pickleball, all the things and I genuinely don't think I would have jumped into all of that or at the pace I did, if I hadn't been disrupted right at the very beginning. That moment, before the ship had even left Sydney Harbour, was one that really allowed me to just loosen up and my body felt safe and relaxed and once that door opened, everything else followed. 

Bringing It Back to Real Life 
Okay, I can almost hear you say right now, you're probably thinking, all right, George, look, that sounds lovely, but you were on a ship, on holidays, out on open water. How does this help me when I'm back home? My brain has 12 tabs open and someone needs everything from me, or someone needs something from me every five minutes.  

Yep, I hear you and honestly, fair question and this is where I'm going to gently bring this back into real life because, no, you can't recreate a holiday at home and I definitely wasn't trying to. I had zero interest in coming back home and adding more to my plate just to chase a feeling. What that experience did for me, though, was show me what's possible when I'm not automatically saying no to myself. 

The Point Was Trying 
The opportunities were always there and the opportunities are always there. The difference was my capacity to notice them and feel safe enough to say ‘yes’ and sometimes that yes doesn't need to lead somewhere spectacular. I mean, my flow ride experience, definitely not a happy end zero surfing career ahead of me but that wasn't the point. What I remember is how it felt to try. The emotional shift, the psychological release, the oh, I didn't die and that was actually kind of fun moment and that's the part I'm hoping lands for you, too.  

It might look like trying a class without committing to it forever. Saying ‘yes’ to something unexpected instead of talking yourself out of it. Letting yourself enjoy a moment without explaining it, justifying it or turning it into a lesson. Those little moments matter more than we realise. 

Seasons and Choosing What Fits 
Here's where I'm gently bringing us back into seasons. Opportunities look different depending on the season you're in. What feels expansive in one season can feel exhausting in another and choosing what's right for you becomes so much easier when you actually know where you are. That's actually why I've created a resource to support you in a real, practical, personal way.  

It helps you understand which season you're in right now and what that means for how you approach things like your energy, movement, curiosity and choice. So instead of guessing or comparing yourself to someone else, you walk away with something that actually makes sense for you and the season that you're living in. I've left the details in the show notes if you're curious and if today is just about listening and noticing, that's completely okay, too. Sometimes awareness is that first shift. 

Full Circle Summary 
Okay, lovely. Let's bring this one full circle because this living with intention arc has been so much more than a cruise. The cruise was just the setting, the environment, the real story has been about what happened inside me when I finally stopped forcing myself through life like everything was fine and started listening to my body and what my body was trying to tell me.  

Back in this episode 20, I shared that I wanted to live 2026 differently. Less ‘shoulds’, more intention and honestly, I didn't expect how much that would resonate with you, but it did and it told me that I needed to take you on this journey as I was living it. So in episode 21, I shared what happened when I followed through the mental and emotional shift. The ‘oh, wow, this is what it feels like when I stopped running on autopilot’ kind of shift.  

Then in episode 22, we zoomed right back into the body. What changed when my digestion and energy were feeling supported through consistency and I stopped pushing through those symptoms like they were just a part of me. That was massive for me because it wasn't just physical. That was also quite psychological for me as well.  

Then in episode 23, went into relationships, specifically around parenting, trust and a sense of identity. We looked at what shifted when the environment felt safe enough for me to let go,\ and the spark I noticed in Ellie when she had space to step forward and then today we landed here at play, something that started showing up once I stopped gripping so hard, because that's been a thread through this whole arc and you've probably felt it as we've been talking.  

When your body feels supported, you think differently. When you feel safe enough, you relate differently and when you're not in survival mode, you start doing things because you want to and this is where this whole chapter has been about for me. Letting life feel a little lighter without needing to justify it. 

If this arc has you sitting here thinking, okay, what season am I even in right now? As you know, I've left something in the show notes that will help you work this out in a real practical way and it's actually designed to give you clarity that you can use straight away. 

Where We’re Heading Next 

So next week we're stepping into a new arc and it builds naturally from this, because once you've had a taste of what it feels like to breathe again and once you notice that little spark of curiosity come back, the next question becomes how do you keep growing from here without slipping back into overdrive? How do you move forward in a way that still feels steady underneath? That's where we're heading next and I'm really excited for it. It feels like the next right conversation and I can't wait to bring you along with me. Stay happy and as always, I'm so glad that you're here. 

Outro 

Thanks for being here. Lovely. If today's episode gave you a light bulb moment, helped you feel seen or sparked a small step, I'd love to hear about it. 

Tag me over on Instagram @gawellness and share you in so I can cheer you on and if there's a woman in your world that needs this kind of support, send this to her because wellness feels better when we do it together. 

Make sure you hit subscribe so you never miss an episode and check the description for all the resources mentioned today plus the link to join my email list, which is where I share exclusive content, early access to offer some freebies and little love notes that I only sent to my community. 

If you loved this episode, it would mean the world to me if you left a review. 

Until next time, take a deep breath and take care of you. 

With love, 

Georgia Ann 

© 2026 GA Wellness with Georgia Ann™. 

All content is for educational purposes only and is not medical or psychological advice.