Overwhelm

What do you do when everything is getting on top of you? It can be pretty scary, frustrating and demotivating.

You’ve probably tried plenty of things to ‘fix’ it, to get everything back under control, but it’s just not working.

So where do you go from here?

Take a deep breath

This is completely normal and you’ve done nothing wrong.

Ground yourself in the present moment. Take a long breath in. Then count slowly down from five as you breathe out. Repeat as many times as you need.

Ok, but then what?

I find with my clients it is helpful to spend some real time exploring what is going on for you and why you want to make a change and then work through all the issues one by one, putting in place new thoughts, new strategies and new mindsets:

1. Really explore your ‘why’. Why is this overwhelm a problem? What issue is it causing in your life? How would you feel if you didn’t have it? Maybe it is your health, your wellbeing, your family, your future career prospects. It is really important to remember this because you are likely to have to make some choices about how you move forward and knowing that overcoming overwhelm is more important to you than anything else will really help.
   
2. Identify the facts of the situation one by one. Often clients come to me with a huge mountain of overwhelm, but as we slowly work through it bit by bit it becomes clearer what is really going on. It’s helpful to start by writing everything down in as messy and unstructured fashion as you want!
   
3. Pick one of the things you’ve written down and explore it, compassionately. Is it true? is it really true? Is the deadline non-negotiable? Will your child miss out if you don’t do this one thing? Do you have to make this mean something negative about yourself? What other options could you choose? Your brain might be shouting that it is the end of the world, but you don’t have to believe it! Gently question, with curiosity and see if there is another option here that gets you closer to your ‘why’.
   
4. Create some boundaries. You might want to go back to your ‘why’ here. If you need to create a boundary, for instance, that you don’t look at work emails after 5pm, then that is going to be REALLY uncomfortable at the beginning. But if you remember that your health, your family or your wellbeing is more important then you can start making different choices, ones that work better for you long term. You have more control than you realise, you can start making good choices today.

If you need any help with this, get in touch! The mindset and strategy tools you get through my 1 to 1 coaching programme will set you on the path to overcome any obstacles in your way.