Do you even recognize when you are overwhelmed?
Or has it become the way you operate?
Are you:
- in the future, anticipating what has to be done?
- worrying about how everything can possibly be done in the time allotted?
- confused as to what is priority to do with the time you have?
- jumping from one thing to another, because new demands change priorities?
Have you become mindless?
Too often we have a mindless approach to the things presented to us in our lives. This results in ineffectiveness and too little enjoyment. In fact, things may be getting done but there is always more and more to do.
More importantly, we may not get the priority items done when we approach everything we have to do mindlessly. We may do what is urgent or what seems to demand our attention the most. These can wind up being the less important things.
Do you default to routine?
It may seem easier to attend to all the routine tasks of life, doing the laundry and dishes and maintaining your car. Life is full of these routine needs!
We may, then, default to routine tasks instead of meeting the challenge of a new relationship or a career goal or a personal upgrade. Then we rob ourselves of the enjoyment of meeting a challenge and the sense of accomplishment at its completion. This diminishes our enjoyment of life and can affect our overall wellness.
It is then easy to slip into a stressed state as the important things are undone.
Do you sometimes melt-down?
From time to time, overwhelm can result in a melt-down in which nothing happens. It all seems too much, and we don’t know where to start, so we don’t start anything.
In a puddle of confusion and depression, we, the overwhelmed, melt under the seeming pressure of all the demands.
Then what?
This meltdown can lead to a very stressed state if it is unchecked.
Certainly meltdowns exhibit mental and emotional stress.
In addition, a meltdown can also manifest as physical stress, most commonly, as in a cold or the flu. It also may emerge as a deeper smoldering illness such as an autoimmune condition such as arthritis, Hashimoto’s thyroid disease or in multiple organ systems.
Before suffering from stress . . .
The first thing we can do is rest, and remove ourselves from the state of overwhelm. When we allow ourselves this, we release ourselves from the endless treadmill of having to do, do more, and do even more.
Then we have a chance at marshaling some resources and use our coping skills.
Not being able to allow ourselves to rest and take a break is part of the syndrome of overwhelm. So we can make a clean break, and see where it leads.
That is a risk from the point of view of an overwhelmed person. From the point of view of a healthy person, it is exactly what the doctor ordered.
Rest first.
Instead of overwhelm
When we are overwhelmed, the challenge level appears to be too high compared to level of skill that we have to meet it. A lack of skills in the face of a high challenge results in feelings of worry and anxiety.
As we acquire more skills, the worry and anxiety may turn to aroused interest, where we are enticed by the challenge and have some skills to meet it. Yet we may be still overwhelmed with the prospect of what there is to do and how we can do it.
It takes more skill to effectively meet the high level of challenge with skill.
I propose it particularly takes the skill of resting in this present moment, being present, in order meet challenges in a healthy way. When we meet challenges this way, we can live life in the most fulfilled place, this present moment. Yes, by being present to ourselves and this moment, we can meet challenges and they are automatically solved. The solution comes with the challenge, when resting in this present moment.
With the skill of resting in this present moment, we can successfully meet a wide variety of challenges. We meet daily and long-term, as well as personal, professional and societal challenges in a healthy way.
What is this present moment?
Resting in this present moment is the topic of my new book, Antidote to Overwhelm.
It is not a mystery, or attainable only by mystics. You can do it too.
In this book, I show how you have already experienced it. I also show how you can cultivate resting in this present moment, so that you can antidote overwhelm.
Read a chapter for free by clicking to go to the Antidote to Overwhelm website.
Then tell me in the comment section below if you recognize all the times you are overwhelmed during a day. That is a start.
Then rest here, now, in this present moment.
