For those days, when you can only hold your head in your hands!
It doesn’t matter who you are, everyone gets a little overwhelmed from time to time. It has nothing to do with how smart you are, how old you are or how many years you have been doing what you are doing.
The reality is, you are a thinking machine and you likely have a lot on your plate. Because of this, sometimes the demands you have on your time, along with your thoughts leave you feeling frustrated, concerned and worried which all lead to the feeling of overwhelm.
Besides it being a “yucky” feeling, overwhelm does a lot more than just rob you of your happiness. It robs you of progress and accomplishment. It robs you of your health and it can take over your perception of the world.
There are some tell tale signs when it comes to overwhelm.
- Putting things off – Procrastinating can be one of the main signs when it comes to feeling overwhelmed. After all, why bother doing anything, when it seems impossible to pick one thing to do. It can be part of the spiral, when all of the sudden everything seems to need to be done all at once.
- Avoiding things – A second important sign is when you find yourself avoiding people, emails, phone calls and the world in general. It is difficult to want to engage with others when you have so much going on in your head, without adding to the burden.
- Feeling agitated – A third sign is when you find yourself getting agitated at little things and with the people around you. When you get full, it is hard to not react when those around you are seemingly trying to take your time and brain power.
- Making more mistakes – The fourth sign, is when you are making more mistakes than normal. It is difficult to really be focused around any specific task or person when your mind is on a lot of different things.
There are a couple of different solutions to addressing the feeling of overwhelm.
- Meditation – The feeling of overwhelm, comes partially from a lack of control around what you are focusing on. Meditation is a great practice, for teaching the mind what to focus on and to let go of the things you don’t.
- Delegation – We are all generally surround by people, more than willing to help, if we choose to let them in or ask for help. Train yourself to be okay with asking for assistance, before you find yourself overwhelmed.
- Focus – Train yourself to do the focused the work of meditation, while you are awake, by getting clear on the one thing on your task list, that in getting done, will pull you out of the feeling of overwhelm. Generally when you can train yourself to think in this way, you leave overwhelm behind. (Check out The Overwhelm Destroyer).
- Seek Assistance – Overwhelm is a pattern of thinking that over time can worsen, if not checked. In some cases, people simply need a little assistance getting a plan, or building in interrupts, in order to get back in control. Don’t be afraid to seek out assistance if you find the instances of this becoming worse.
A big part of reaching your goals is being able to build the mindset and emotional resilience to not only fuels you for success, but help the people around you, in building theirs. By recognizing the signs of overwhelm and then taking the steps to break down your goals into chunk size pieces, you ensure you not only reach those end points, but also enjoy the journey along the way.
