Outshine the Overwhelm
Understanding and conquering the feeling of being overwhelmed
I want to share my most recent life lesson:
Do NOT freakin’ overwhelm yourself with too many obligations.
It’s too easy to get overwhelmed and totally lose track of your path. We need to be able to recognize this, accept it, and then act. It’s not as recognizable as being angry or sad, because anger, for example, is an unwelcome feeling. Anger is a negative emotion stemming from something you perceive as a negative action. But feeling overwhelmed is a negative emotion that usually comes from good intentions.
We want to lose 10 pounds, take on a second job, or adopt another pet. These are positive things we welcome with open arms with the intention of improving our life. But there is a fine imaginary line that we cross when we overcompensate. It becomes too much, and we can no longer dedicate enough of ourselves into each area, draining ourselves of our inner energy.
Here’s My Story:
In February I decided to shed all the negative in my life. This meant quitting my lame market research job to pursue my passions. Aside from starting my wellness blog, I’m an event planner, a volunteer at an animal shelter, a Lyft driver, an electronic music DJ, and in June I took on my greatest challenge yet: fostering a litter of kittens.
Everyone is saying “yeah that’s too much, of course you were overwhelmed.” But now that I feel like I’m actually doing what I’m meant to do here on Earth, everything has worked out and I’ve had this passionate energy fueling each day. Until suddenly that passion is gone, and your life seems just as empty as it was before despite all the pieces being in place.
I was overwhelmed and here’s why:
1. No space for the unexpected.
If you pre-assign all your time and energy, how can you be open and receptive to newer, better opportunities to enter your life? You either miss them or you turn them down because your schedule and energy is already maxed out. On the other hand, you are not making room for emergency situations. One of my kittens got sick and we were in hospitals for 2 days. It drained my energy both physically and emotionally and because I allowed myself no recovery time, my passion filled days became a tiring journey full of trivial tasks.
2. Disconnection with self.
When you become overwhelmed, all of your goals get replaced by a 1 new goal: achieve all of your goals. We get sidetracked by the next thing which causes us to forget why we devoted ourselves to them in the first place. Each accomplishment is empty unless you can invest your self into each one. It’s about the quality of what we do, not how frequently we do it.
How do you prevent this? You can’t, it’s the test that keeps on testing. But remember all experiences are opportunities for growth, so stay aware, open, and learn so you can conquer it right away next time.
Here is what I focused on: separate, scale down, cut out, start over.
And here is an outline of my specific actions:
- Clean the house. Organization and cleanliness externally encourages organization and cleanliness internally.
- Separate from social media and friends. Don’t answer your phone for a day and keep your focus to yourself.
- Meditate (for less time). Creates separation and strengthens your connection with your inner self. Reducing the time can increase the quality.
- Exercise (try decreasing time and intensity level). Consistent exercise made me want to eat healthier, which made me feel better physically, which made me want to feel better mentally. One good decision can lead to others. If you have difficulty starting up, try reducing time and intensity and it will increase the quality of your workouts.
- Write for 30 minutes each day. The negative thoughts spill onto the paper so only the positive thoughts are highlighted in your mind.
At first you might feel like you’re wasting time or underperforming, so be aware that it’s because you’re going from an overactive state of mind to a simplified state. This is normal so just give it some time and soon you’ll feel like you have a clean slate. I felt the progress almost immediately and soon enough I was able to replace my exhausted mindset with a sustainable, passionate energy.
Remember that feeling overwhelmed isn’t totally avoidable. In fact, it’s necessary in testing ourself so we know our limits. So next time: stay aware, learn from each experience, and try the ideas above to manage it effectively right from the start.
