Choosing against overwhelm

Who is creating the pressure on your day-to-day life? How did the overwhelm build up today?

I seem to be rushing around at the moment. While it gives me energy to do a lot, my mind is now starting to apply the ‘should’ quality. My head is adding that certain kind of pressure it likes to invent all on its own.

It happens in a kind of pile-up. Certain things need to be right - perhaps even perfect - before a friend comes to stay. I need the ‘just so’ thing to bring for that lunch, and to bring the right things when I pack. I need to get to the exercise I love doing and the learning part of my day. Work, of course, must also be delivered to the standard I expect of myself.

See what I did there? I’m even putting the fun stuff I do to relax under pointless pressure.

When I notice my heart starting to race and muscles tense as these self-imposed ‘musts’ pile up, I stop. Who is deciding what this day will be like? I am. Even if others expect something from me, I can choose how I react and how my minds deal with it.

I take a minute to put things into perspective. Learning to notice and re-tune has taken time and effort – and it doesn’t always happen. Today, it does.  I’m choosing a calmer energy, the one that knows it’s not a life-or-death situation. I’m tuning into my confident self – the part that always allows me to get on with things with calm and self-belief. It helps me connect to the energy that fuels me rather than the stress that depletes me. In the end, it helps me get more done, to a better standard. A subtle change, but the start to an entirely different day.

What’s your strategy when things start to feel overwhelming?