If you feel overwhelmed in your daily life, it’s usually because you are experiencing something as being ‘too much’.
The ‘too much’ could be
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- too much work/too many tasks to do,
- too many appointments/events/calls to attend,
- too many discussions/arguments in your relationships with your spouse/boss/sister/etc.,
- too many choices when you get dressed,
- too many options of things to do over the weekend,
- too many ideas for the content of the next blog post, too much/many … (fill in the blank).
The ‘too much’ is not a fact or reality; it’s no real thing. It’s something that’s created by your thoughts.
You are not feeling overwhelmed because there is too much; you feel overwhelmed because you think there is too much.
You feel overwhelmed because you have a human brain.
The brain can focus only on one thing at a time.
If we have various things going on in our life, our brain spends a lot of energy trying not to forget anything. That’s why it jumps from one thing/thought to the next and backwards, trying to take care of everything simultaneously.
So, the natural response of the human brain is to create feelings of being overwhelmed if we try to keep too many things in our heads and if we haven’t decided on what to focus on.
You can take the ‘too much’ burden from your brain’s shoulder.
You can help your brain move away from being overwhelmed and relax.
There are two steps to solve the ‘too much dilemma’:
Step 1 – Write down everything that’s going on in your head. Everything.
For example:
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- If the ‘too much’ is about your work, create a to-do list and write down every task that you think you need to do.
- If it’s about your relationship with your sister, write down anything that worries or frustrates you.
- If it’s about weekend planning, write down every activity you could possibly choose to do.
Step 2 – Pick one thing from your list to focus on now. Just one.
For example:
-
- Prioritise the tasks and work and choose the one you will start working on.
- Pick one of the worries about your sister and plan how you want to sort out that worry.
- Make a list of all activity ideas for the weekend, then choose one you want to do and, therefore, plan/organise now.
That’s it.
Give it a try.
Next time you feel overwhelmed,
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- accept it as something normal (it’s just your human brain talking to you),
- write down what is on your mind,
- and choose one thing to focus on.
- And do that thing.
IMPORTANT: Your brain is not stupid. It will only trust you if you prove to it that you are trustworthy.
Writing everything down is always helpful, but it’s not the whole solution here. You need to pick and do the next step. Otherwise, your brain will not trust you, it will not relax, and it will keep you overwhelmed.