Overwhelm is a real problem for a lot of people, me included. This emotion can trigger a cascade of thoughts and behaviors that bog us down in the swamp of inaction and stagnation.
The swamp of overwhelm is filled with nasty little critters. Thoughts that have us focused on everything that’s going wrong (mental filtering), thoughts focused on failure (all or nothing thinking), or thoughts about never getting out of this mess (catastrophizing).
When we are in the overwhelm swamp fighting with these nasty little thought critters we start to behave in ways that are not helpful to getting unstuck. We can start to procrastinate and ruminate. Maybe we start to wallow around in the mud complaining about how difficult, dirty, and dangerous the swamp is. There might even be a time when we start looking around for someone else to pull us free from the swamp and lash out at them when they can’t (or won’t) help us.
None of this helps us navigate through the swamp. Even worse it might even be driving us deeper into the murky darkness.
So here is what you can actually do with overwhelm.
Start with acknowledging where you are and why. I like to write this out. It should look something like this…
“I am feeling overwhelmed. I think this is because….”
Once you have all those thoughts out on paper you can assess them for problematic thinking, dispute them by checking the facts, and reframe them to something more helpful. Bam less thought critters causing you problems.
Next you can break overwhelming tasks into smaller and smaller steps until you find the smallest thing you can do to get moving forward. That smallest thing is probably much more manageable than the “big picture” goal you are being overwhelmed by. Once you have the smallest step identified, do it… take a movement to feel good… and maybe you want to go on ahead and take the next step? If you do great, do it… and recognize again how good that felt. You can take use these micro tasks and the positive moment to build up the inertia you need to get unstuck and start moving out of the swamp.
The final thing I would recommend is being mindful of the physiological strain “overwhelm” puts on you. When our sense of overwhelm is high it is a good indication we need to intentionally put aside some of the self-imposed obligations in our lives and focus on our basic critical needs. If you spend some of your energy on your physical health, eating right, staying away from mood-altering substances, getting enough good sleep, and moving your body then you will find yourself in a better state to engage with your tasks and challenges.
If you found this helpful, you can read all of my Daily Reflections at www.tacticstotalwellness.com/blog
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