Feeling Overwhelmed???

Hey Everyone. I hope that you are having a wonderful start to your 2016 and that all your dreams are starting to come true. In 2016 I have pretty much hit the ground running. Work has been busy, new clients coming in. I’ve started teaching an online class and started building a class for the next term. I have started the planning for an upcoming vacation and already in 2016 I have met some new people and started building new relationships. Needless to say 2016 has been off to a good start. But if you read through that list and got a little bit tired or overwhelmed let me tell you, you are not alone.

I am loving everything about 2016 so far but WOW, I feel like I have been running for 2 weeks straight and have had very little time to breathe. I will be the first to acknowledge that my self-care routine has probably suffered more than I realize in the last couple of weeks. There have also been times where I have felt so overwhelmed I wasn’t even sure where to start or what to think. The rest of the time I find myself sitting at my desk with a new browser window open and my phone in my hand ready to do something and can’t for the life of me remember what I was going to do with either of those things. Or I’m wandering around my house with about 18 things on my brain that I need to do but accomplishing none of those things.

Anyone out there every feel like that raise your hand. We’ve all had times when life feels completely overwhelming. Thankfully over the years I have developed some very simple things that I can do that will help ground me back in reality and get a handle on what needs to get done and how I can get started. So allow me to share the 3 simple things I do when I’m feeling overwhelmed to help me feel like my feet are back on the ground.

1. Breathe. Generally speaking this is the first step to anything you want to do. Breathe. There are about a million ways to breathe if your goal is relaxation or combating anxiety. Just google “breathing techniques” and you will see what I mean. However two of my favorite breathing exercises are 4-7-8 breathing. In 4-7-8 breathing you breathe in 4 counts, hold 7 counts, and out for 8 counts. If you need a little help getting started here is a great video that will talk you through it. My other favorite breathing exercise is square breathing. That’s a pretty simple one as well and I’ve included a diagram below to explain how to do it.

2. Make it Manageable. While I am a HUGE advocate of making lists sometimes the very thing that can help me stay on track and make sure I don’t miss anything can add to my feeling of being overwhelmed as they get longer and longer. For example Friday afternoon I was sitting at home thinking of all the things that I wanted/needed to get done this weekend. As the list grew in my head I started thinking I am going to have to work all weekend and I won’t even get half of what I need to done. As I was getting more and more overwhelmed I stopped myself and then did some breathing. Then I started breaking things down into really small pieces. Instead of thinking I need work on class stuff, I broke it down even further, grading papers, grading discussion questions, writing a quiz. Then I picked one to start with and focus on and put the rest aside while I focused on grading discussion questions. And you know what it didn’t take near as long as I felt like it was going to and when it was done I felt like I had accomplished something and it motivated me to continue on to the next thing. I don’t care how small you have to break things down to but get the to do list into bite size pieces that feel manageable and just pick ONE to start with and set the rest aside till that one thing is done.

 3. Take a break. I know I am guilty of not following this bit of advice. When things get busy and to do lists get long I often find myself running around like a crazy person, half of me thinking “just take a break and breathe for a minute” and the other half of my brain screaming “THERE IS NOT TIME FOR BREAKS THERE IS TOO MUCH TO DO”. But here is the reality we HAVE to take breaks, if we don’t we end up investing all our energy into running around like chickens with our heads cut off and actually accomplishing very little. Now I will grant you that there may legitimately not be time to take an entire day off or to do big things for breaks but there is ALWAYS time for a little break. Little ways I like to take a break are you play a game on my phone for a few minutes (the catch there is you need to be able to stop yourself), watch your favorite YouTube video, take a few extra minutes in the shower (I love showers and feel like they can “fix” just about anything), or buy myself my favorite sweet treat to enjoy that evening after a long day. These are just a few things that don’t take much time or money and can be a quick boost to your motivation and can take away some of that feeling of being overwhelmed.

So there you have it, my 3 easy tips for managing those times in life when life itself gets a little overwhelming. As for me I’m going to go take a quick break and then move on to the next manageable piece of my to do list. :)