Overwhelm is exhausting, stressful, and incredibly frustrating. It can make you feel confused, forgetful, have difficulty concentrating, and give you a racing mind.
You don’t have to stay like that! You can move out of overwhelm and start feeling free again.
Firstly, write down everything that you’re worrying about, past present and future. Getting it on paper gets it out of your head. We’re not talking here about a “to do” list. We’re talking about unloading the contents of your mind. It doesn’t have to be written neatly, it doesn’t have to be in any particular order, just get it all out. Keep going until you feel that you’ve got it all down. Then shred or burn the pages that you’ve written.
Don’t worry about forgetting what you have to do; you can still have a separate task list if you want (we’ll come to that in a moment). This exercise gives your mind a break by getting rid of its swirling contents. It helps to relieve the burden of overwhelm.
Next, it’s important to get the sleep you need. Staying up late and/or starting early to work through your list of tasks won’t help in the long run. You’ll become more and more exhausted and less productive. With proper rest you’ll be more efficient and get through things faster.
If you have a long “to do” list, choose one thing from it that you’re going to do and focus fully on that. Put your list away somewhere that you can’t see it, to avoid the temptation to look at it and worry about what’s still on it. Somewhere hard to reach from wherever you’re going to be is best. Whenever your mind wanders to other things on your list, remind yourself that you’ll get more done by finishing the task in hand before moving on to the next.
If you’re struggling to focus or your mind is racing, take 6 deep, slow breaths to calm yourself down. Make the exhale a little longer than the inhale to signal to your body that it’s time to move from the “fight or flight” stress state into the calm rest state.
Let go of perfectionism. Things don’t have to be perfect to be good enough. Wanting everything to be perfect sets you up for disappointment and contributes to overwhelm because you’ll never be satisfied. It can also prevent you starting things for fear of getting them wrong. Remember that taking imperfect action is better than no action.
Learn to delegate and to say no. We can become overwhelmed by taking on too much. Think about what you could delegate to others, and remember that you don’t have to do everything yourself. If someone asks you to do something that you don’t have time for or don’t want to do, say no. It can take practice if you’ve always said yes to everything, but it’s incredibly liberating when you do say no!
Finally, do something you love every day. When you’re feeling overwhelmed self-care often goes out the window. But doing things you love lights you up inside and makes you feel better able to cope with life’s challenges. If you think you don’t have time, read my blog on finding time for self-care.
If you’d like my help, book a free discovery call here so we can have a chat.
