Day 10: Overwhelm
Have you ever been so overwhelmed that you felt stuck and had no idea what to do next?
I remember clearly a time when my day to day activities came to a screeching halt.
Overwhelmed.
The feeling was so hard to manage.
It felt like I was juggling balls while spinning ceramic plates in the air. Slowly I could anticipate each plate dropping one by one while I stood by helpless. Unable to prevent them from hitting the ground.
The feeling felt tight and closed off, like I was holding my breath and clenching my fists.
I could literally hear the sound of plates breaking as they dropped in my mind.
It felt like I didn’t have enough hands to catch them all.
My brain was frozen and no solutions were in sight.
Another image I had during that time was of me floating in an ocean, no land in sight. I didn’t have a life preserver and the water was deep and choppy. It felt like I had been floating for days. I couldn’t tread water any longer. Every now and then I’d sink under and then suddenly bob up gasping for air. It was such a heavy and terrifying feeling.
I remember having both of these images come to me during the day. It was like a daydream (nightmare really). My thoughts were all consuming.
I couldn’t focus.
It felt like tears were on the verge of appearing all of the time.
The pressure was just too much.
I tried to come up with solutions, solve some of the problems.
I thought I just had too much to do and that I needed to adjust my schedule. Cut some things out.
What I know now is that overwhelm is a feeling.
It’s caused by the thoughts that I think.
When I feel it now, I get curious about what I’m thinking. Things like:
*I’ll never get all of this done.
*This feels impossible.
*I’m in over my head.
*I’m losing my mind.
*I’m so overwhelmed.
These thoughts do nothing to help me.
In fact, they keep me spinning.
No matter how much is happening on any given day I can choose how I want to feel about it.
Overwhelmed is never a feeling that I choose on purpose.
Determined, capable, persistent, organized, clear headed, focused.
These are all feelings that bring me forward motion.
How do you want to feel the next time your to-do list is too long?
Hope over to my Facebook page and let me know in the comments!
~Shaun
