Stop the overwhelm

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“Besides the noble art of getting things done, there is the noble art of leaving things undone. The wisdom of life consists in the elimination of non-essentials.” Lin Yutang,

I am sure you know the feeling when there are just way too many things packed in your day and you don’t even know where to start.  It feels  like your mind is about to explode and your heart is racing. No matter where you look, the feeling of suffocation is present at every step. You are craving for the day to be over so that you can finally go home and get some sense of temporary relief.   Without realising, you are in a fight or flight mode which is great for a pure survival but not really for a sustainable joyful existence. In fact, you are in a tunnel vision which significantly diminishes your sense of perspectives. Sounds all too familial? I know. We have all been there. Maybe far too many times to count. 

There are way too many articles on this subject, but as I have been hearing this a lot lately, I decided to summarise what has worked for me. 3 stages. All non-brainers really, but require a decision to take this seriously and practice. How does that sound?

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1. The first which is the most immediate one and sort of an emergency one. Stop.  Eliminate or postpone what is NOT a MUST.  Yes, it’s called prioritisation.  And yes, put yourself first, it’s like with the oxygen mask on a plane. We all have the habit of prioritising something or someone else. 
2. The second is a more long term and consists of developing a mental muscle. You actually have to develop a habit. Whether it’s your mindfulness training, mediation, breathing technique or just practicing awareness of your physical sensations. Whatever works for you. You need to be all to catch yourself in the moment when you start feeling overwhelmed and re-establish the calm using one of the techniques: e.g. breathing. The crucial moment is bringing the awareness to this moment. This requires training, like going to the gym. Regular training, mind you. This will allow you to respond NOT to react.  
3. Third one is a deeper one. Think about how many times a day does it happen to you to feel overwhelmed? 1, 2, 3 times?  Or maybe you feel overwhelmed most of the time ?  If the latter is the case, you are likely also suffering from other issues (seek a specialist who can help you out). If this happens less frequently, you may want to identify the situations where you feel overwhelmed, look for what is causing you this stress and eliminate what you can. Surely, it’s not possible to eliminate all the stress. ( Hence, the point 2). The question of what kind of a life you want to live and what price are you willing to pay for that. You may realise that you don’t need to change much and sometimes small adjustment can do great things. You may however also come to the  conclusion that working form 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. is not really serving you, that your effectiveness is down from 16:00 onwards and you are missing the most important part of the day; the precious time with your partner and kids. What needs to change here?  And as someone much smarter than myself, Lin Yutang, once said: “ Besides the noble art of getting things done, there is the noble art of leaving things undone. The wisdom of life consists in the elimination of non-essentials.”