As we all know, your thoughts create your reality. What you think, you feel, and behave as per it. Your thoughts are your windows to the external world. Much of our interpretation and contemplation about the external reality is vague and meaningless at times. Learn to be mindful of the present, learn to accept things that you can, and let go of things that are beyond your control.
Your thoughts make you feel the way you are right now. Introspect and develop insight and find what is troubling you from the inside.
Fear is a great motivator but is the root of all evil. Banish fear before it vanishes you. All of us are insecure from the inside. Accept fate and not refute it. When you have accepted everything without refuting it, can there be anything bound to create a disturbance or hurt us in life?
Learn to accept everything, remember all things are perishable, all things will bear and die, and so let go of them, not getting attached to anything. Things don’t control us, our thoughts do. What you think you become, control, and keep a check on your thoughts. Your focus determines your reality. Be mindful of the present, and forget everything that is bound to create overwhelming thoughts.
Remember all things are precious and equal, no one is higher or lower than the other disregard their shape, size, value, etc. Everything has a reason and meaning for its existence. Appreciate this fact. Everything is consequential. Become selfless and perceive the world as it flies by, without attaching or fixating on one thing. We can grow our fears or fight our fears. All is about controlling your thoughts.
There are a few strategies that have helped me a great deal. I hope they can help you as well.
- Try better labeling
One of Anthony Robbin’s biggest contributions to the world is his idea of Transformational Vocabulary.
The idea is simple: the words we use affect how we feel.
Thus, if you say that you’re “overwhelmed,” you will feel more overwhelmed. If instead, you say, “I’m a little busy,” or, “I have a lot going on,” you’ll immediately start to feel less anxious and you’ll find yourself in a more resourceful state.
This works with other situations as well. If you “hate” something or are “furious” at a situation, you’ll feel a lot more anxious than if you “find something distasteful” or you are “somewhat ruffled” at a situation.
This can sound ridiculous. After all, how much can just changing words affect how you feel? But I promise you, it will make a huge difference if you consistently change the way you talk about how you’re feeling.
- Just do three things
If you’re feeling “a little busy,” just focus on doing three things. It’s much easier to wrap your head around getting three things done than getting thirty things done.
So complete three tasks, then choose another three tasks.
- Think about the long-term problem of being busy
Why are you feeling too busy? It’s often because you haven’t been intentional about protecting your time.
Sure, sometimes things pile up. It happens to everyone.
Yet we all have 24 hours in a day and some people manage to be highly effective without becoming overwhelmed and others get overwhelmed and yet seem to accomplish very little. Focus on being highly effective, not busy. Try to find the one thing you can do that will solve ten of your problems, instead of solving each problem individually.
Say no to more things, ensuring that you have time to focus on the important work that God put you on this earth to accomplish.
What do you do to overcome feeling overwhelmed?
You did not say what part of your life you refer to as overwhelmed; however, I think on general answer may handle this.
If your work or chore load feels overwhelming, the best thing to do is chop it up into bite-size units. Make a list of things you need to do and prioritize based on your understanding of importance. Then, have your list in front of you and start at the top and work towards the bottom. Make sure to stop every so often to take a breath.
If it is your overall life, again, look to what feels the most important and work on that. Try to keep busy throughout the day. Sometimes folks who feel overwhelmed take a break that extends into an afternoon or day off. One thing that is also important is to plan downtime during the week and day that is a plan to stop for lunch or not work on Sunday, etc.
You could tell someone and get support, just choose the most appropriate person. Negative people won’t help you feel better.
Always check: is the overwhelming thing unfolding in the real world, in front of you right now? How likely is it to do that in an hour/day/week/month/ year? Has it happened already, but you may be replaying it again? If so, realize that that exact time will never come back, it’s gone. You are older and wiser, and you survived.
