I’m overwhelmed.
Then I realize I shouldn’t be overwhelmed, so now I am feeling guilty and overwhelmed. Then I think I should probably be able to get it together, so I feel weak and guilty and overwhelmed. Now I am stressed out about how I am feeling so I’m drinking vodka out of a water bottle at preschool drop off!! (ok, ok so that last part isn’t actually true, I swear)
But, you see how something as simple a feeling can spiral you out of control…or maybe it’s just me?
I think most of us feel overwhelmed at one time or another in our lives. Some of you might feel overwhelmed every single day. I’m here to tell you, you aren’t the only one and there is nothing wrong with you.
Overwhelm doesn’t have to come from just big important things either. If you have enough little stuff pile up, you can find yourself overwhelmed with no really clear reason. This is where I am at right now.
Overwhelm Can’t Be Quantified. It’s Subjective. And It Can Come From Good Things.
I want to be clear. My overwhelm is totally not serious – no one died and I am not on the brink of losing my house or job. My overwhelm is actually coming from good things! I’ve got a lot of good stuff going on right now, but even that can leave me feeling drained sometimes. My overwhelm isn’t serious in the grand scheme of life, but it’s still a big deal to me.
I like to keep things easy and balanced…and they just aren’t right now.
I often feel bad talking to my friends when I am feeling overwhelmed from good reasons. It sounds silly when you say it out loud, “Well, we have been looking at houses to build for the last month, so I haven’t had any time to work on my blog, and I have a bunch of trips coming up that I need to finish planning, and Ellie is only in school 3 afternoons a week so I have no time to get anything done!” When I say it out loud, it makes me sound like a self centered bitch.
But, just because someone’s reasons for feeling overwhelmed might sound trivial to you, doesn’t make them any less real for that person.
Feeling overwhelmed can’t be measured.
Let Some Shit Go
I’ve come to realize that the only thing that helps me lose my sense of overwhelm is to let some shit go! It’s going to be different for everyone. For me, my blog has had to take a back seat for a while. I haven’t posted anything in almost a month and I dropped out of a class I was taking because it was just draining me. I don’t love that my blog was the thing that had to suffer, but I needed to regain a sense of control before I could really be productive with it.
Maybe you need to un-volunteer from the PTA, maybe you need to order take out instead of cooking dinner…whatever you need to do to feel less overwhelmed, do it! A buzz word these days is “self care” and this goes right along with that. You need to take care of yourself before you can be helpful to other people. You need to make sure you are whole before you can give any of yourself to others.
Everyone Goes Through It
Don’t forget this when you are comparing yourself to other people. Do you see that “perfect” mom at preschool drop off who seems to have it all together – she showered that day, she’s got makeup on, she’s got a green smoothie in her cup instead of vodka (kidding, seriously!). She’s got shit too. It might not show through on the surface, but it’s there.
We all have something that at one time or another causes us to feel overwhelmed. When it happens, just take your foot off the gas, step back and re-evaluate. If there are commitments in your life that can wait, let them go for a while. Take a break.
Give yourself permission to slow down, let that shit go then ease back on into life. This post is me easing back into life. I think I am ready to finally give my blog the love it needs and to get back to feeling more like myself again.
Do you ever find yourself feeling overwhelmed? How do you handle it? (vodka?)
