What To Do When You Feel Overwhelmed
You know that feeling when you wake up, show up to work, look at all the STUFF you have to do, tune out, open up YouTube and start watching clips from The Late Show with Stephen Colbert non-stop? Even though you have projects that you are supposed to hand in in two hours, or were supposed to hand in three days ago? I get that feeling quite a bit. Be it because I actually have a lot of things to do or because of my crippling self-doubt of my worth, I tend to feel completely overwhelmed with life a lot. As if I’m pushing a Jeep uphill. During these instances, I try to do one, or a combination of the following to try and get my sh*t together and get things DONE.
Master Time
I find that the reason I usually feel far too overwhelmed and panicky is that I see things on my to-do lists and all the other problems I have going on in my life and lump them all together as things that need my IMMEDIATE attention. Don’t give me the “Of course you are going to feel overwhelmed if you’re doing that, Thendral.” We have all been here and continue to do so. I find that when I focus on how long each task would take me instead of the actual number of tasks I have, I usually feel a bit better. It makes a world of difference to take 5 minutes and re-group. I look at each task, prioritize, give it a time estimate, and as something I have to get done by a certain block in the day (e.g.: by noon, or by 4pm, or by 9pm). I have also found that by not giving something a time estimate and time limit, I tend to procrastinate and leave it as this gigantic thing that lies ahead of me and impossible to conquer. Streamline your list and identify the most important you absolutely have to get done today – I know what it feels like to want to shut off from everything, curl up into a ball and just eat a pint of Ben & Jerry’s over that rejection email about that job you really wanted. I know. But that shouldn’t overtake what you absolutely have to do at your current job. Or if you absolutely must and you feel like your emotions about that are interfering with what’s in front of you, give yourself 15-20 mins to wallow by venting out to a friend, writing a long and frustrated journal entry or eating that ice cream. Once that time is up, it’s up. You’re not going to look at it until you finish the actual task at hand.
Master Your Thoughts
Something that regularly happens to me and the reason I feel so overwhelmed with life is that my thoughts get ahead of me. My mind just starts racing if I’m stuck at something or received a negative response about something and all my fears and uncertainties start running at me at full speed. Sometimes I just start writing a blog post and this voice slowly creeps up at the back of my head “Are you sure this is a good enough piece?” Soon, it takes over my entire state of being and I start panicking about whether I should have even made the career switch. What I have realized about this is that the more I try to suppress or push away these thoughts or even do the “I will have 20 mins to feed my paranoia and then I will get back to work”, the WORST they get. So yes, the 20 minutes thing doesn’t really work all the time – and in this case, because I’m giving 20 whole minutes to let my worst possible fears and insecurities take over me. Not a great plan. What I do in these instances is to try and “escape” them. I literally get away from my work by getting away from my desk – I go to the washroom, I go for a short walk, anything to distance myself from things for a solid 5 minutes. I refuse to think about work during this time and distract myself. Another thing I do is to force myself to take a deep breath. Or three (It really works guys, don’t roll your eyes at me). I focus on channeling my breath to my stomach (or if that’s hard, imagine filling up your belly) and really exhaling it ALL (the air, my fears, my tension in my shoulders, etc.) out. I then tell myself in a firm tone “I got this”. Usually, I’m back in my groove, attacking my to-do list in about 30 minutes.
Master the Illusion of Control
I think this is without a doubt, the biggest reason I spiral and feel so overwhelmed and too debilitated to do anything. A lot of times, we try to get the most important thing out of our way as quickly as possible. We draw up the Eisenhower’s Matrix and convince ourselves that this task in front of us is something that we absolutely have to do. Right now. But sometimes said task feels too hard, we don’t feel good about our abilities in seeing the task through, or it simply just feels too difficult to start. Usually trying to manage my time or my thoughts helps with giving me the illusion of control. But sometimes, it’s just not enough. I still feel like my whole life is getting away from me and that absolutely nothing is in my control. During times like this, I try to do one or a combination of the following: I try to see what I have accomplished so far. In terms of the project that’s sitting in front of me, or in terms of what I have done so far in my career. If the task in front of me is not a 100% time sensitive and I’m not feeling it, I pick something else from my to-do list that is easier to do so that it can act like something I can “phase” into the rhythm of working. Or more commonly, I tidy up my workspace. There is just something tidying up a space and giving a home for everything that makes me feel so whole and accomplished that it boosts my esteem and my illusion of control (My inner Virgo is grinning like a fool at this). Try to do something that makes you feel good and satisfied (heard it as soon as I typed it out) so that it helps with your momentum of working. Before you know it, you are going to be a regular hustler!
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