We are all powerful people. But powerful people have their limits. How is your power being weakened throughout the days, weeks, months as we lead our professional, home, and personal lives? There are aspects of our lives that can be creative, happy, and engaging in the right setting, but all too frequently we find ourselves overwhelmed and doubting our abilities.
We certainly all know the feelings of being overwhelmed and over extended. Of having to put our time and energy into the frustrations of life. In a state of being over extended we may find that our personal relationships are suffering. We may find ourselves uninspired to connect in meaningful ways with our loved ones. For some of us may find our jobs have become our primary relationship and our job has become an unforgiving taskmaster.
Health can suffer. We may find ourselves unable to fall asleep or stay asleep with the nagging worries we have. Unhealthy eating or not eating enough, our bodies become lethargic and weakened. Purposeful exercise feels like it would be a luxury. We are in a state of overwhelm when…
*Our shoulders feel the weight of the world on them.
* We wake up in the middle of the night with racing thoughts of worry.
* We don’t look forward to doing what once brought us great happiness.
* We find ourselves thinking if we only worked harder or did better than we could make it all work out.
Different choices need to be made when we are overwhelmed. The following strategy will be able to help identify and get out of the over extendedness and prevent it from happing again.
Know Your Limits
We must be able to recognize when we are over extended. So many of us have been fighting and pushing for so long that we see it as normal. Everyone of us has signs that let us know we’ve hit our limit and those signs are present before we are overwhelmed. This is the line between being happily busy and productive to being overwhelmed. To discover our limits we need to think back to a time to when we were happily busy and productive…functioning, not stressed. What were we doing? How were we doing it? Discovering our limits requires an inner journey to discover how we want the rhythm of our life to happen. By knowing our limits we can avoid or notice it more quickly and be able to correct it sooner.
Change Priorities
When in the state of overwhelm there is a different way of prioritizing that supports us, it is a mindset of crisis intervention, so to speak. Rather than looking at the most important items and plugging away, look to complete the easiest. So the project that can be done the fastest and easiest.
Focus On the Inner Journey
Being overwhelmed is a state of mind. Thoughts such as, “how am I going to get all of this done?” and “I don’t have any time for me anymore.” Feelings of anxiety, frustration, and fatigue are telling us that we are running on fumes. We must be mindful of filling ourselves up, with creativity, positivity, joy, and vitality. This is our fuel. When we recognize that our positive emotions are depleting, we must give ourselves the time and attention necessary to bring balance back into our lives.
Restful Days
Just as our bodies need recharging, so do our minds. This requires rest on a regular basis. This means taking a day out of every week where the focus is on rest. The rest of our days are already filled up with work, school, laundry, and grocery shopping. A day of rest requires a different sort of energy… one of calmness, recharging, relaxing, and fun. By taking this one day a week for ourselves, we are supported in keeping our creativity high and the ability to meet whatever presents itself to us in a positive manner.
Make the choice to choose a strategy that will have you transforming feelings of being over extended into feelings of calmness. Know that you deserve it.
The Reflective Self 