Thursday, September 23, 2010

Feeling Overwhelmed?



FROM BECKY: This week I have been very busy. I am getting ready to leave for a three week vacation, I am about to move house, and I have taken on some new projects at work and yes, from time to time I do tend to overwhelm myself with all the things that I have to do.



I know that running a Son-Rise Program, whether full-time, part-time or lifestyle, and even simply being a parent can be a lot of work so here are some things that work for me when I am feeling overwhelmed.

1) Acceptance Acceptance Acceptance! The first step to the path of comfort is taking a moment to check in with myself. Acknowledge that I am feeling this way, take a few deep breaths and relax into the feeling without judging it as good, bad, right or wrong. Even this first step of becoming aware and allowing ourselves to really feel what we feel, we are able to do the things we want to do in a much more clear and effective way.

2) Take action! When I overwhelm myself, it actually leads to inaction for me. If I sit thinking about all the things I have to do and pressure myself, I actually can't see clearly to take the first step. Try writing a list of all the things you want to do. First cross off all the things that aren't important and prioritize the things that are with he most time sensitive being the first.

3) Enjoy the journey! There are always things to do! We tend to get into the mentality of "If I get it all done, then I can relax", what about relaxing first and then being fun and playful as you complete each task. Yesterday when I wrote my list, I starting singing a tune in my head about all the things I had to do, it became fun to sing each one and then cross them off as I went.

4) Some things can wait! I have a magnet on my fridge which reads "Dull women have immaculate houses" I do love a clean house, but sometimes, it would be OK if I simply swept the floor instead of mopping it too. And sure, I have enough food in the house already to feed a small army so do I really need to get to the grocery store today?

I would love to know of any other ideas of how people cope when they feel overwhelmed.

Have fun!

1 comment:

  1. Love the ideas and love making lists.
    After I make my list I include in the list that are my priorities something that I really like doing, a silly priority, and place it in the middle of the list as if it were a great priority, so some people don't understand how sometimes I mention that I have a bunch of important things to do that day but they catch me reading a comics graphic novel as that was my silly priority for the day and I just happened to be in the middle of doing it when they caught me! I think it helps to break the list a bit.
    Another thing I do is listen to music while I am doing tasks, just like when you are at the gym you don't seem to feel the effort as much.
    And finally I start my day by rading three blogs from the Son-Rise Program Blogs, it always inspire me like this one did!

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