It’s The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year & I’m Overwhelmed -HELP!

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Happy Holidays!  I can’t believe it’s the most wonderful time of the year, and I am OVERWHELMED!  We all know the feeling, right?  That tight, constricting feeling of self-doubt that comes over you – thoughts that you aren’t efficient enough, the fear that affects everything you do, the helpless feelings. So what do I do???  I panic!  “There is too much to do,  not enough time to do it, and too many people making demands on my time, mundane tasks that need to be completed, obligations must be met. I feel anxious, frustrated and overwhelmed.  I’m Frozen, physically- my back is hunched forwards, my neck is twisted, mentally the thoughts in my head keep re-playing every simple thing I need to do to get done.”

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What can I do?  First, instead of pushing this feeling of overwhelm away, I need to acknowledge it.  Then I need to accept it.  I will allow the feeling of overwhelm to come, Frozen and all, and let it be just what it is.  Because, we all know that feelings leave eventually.

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I am going to attempt to simplify things, starting with my “To Do List.”  Instead of too many tasks on the list, I am going to try to get the list down to 3 tasks.

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I am going to take deep breaths to calm down. there is a connection between  our emotional state of being, and breathing.  A calm person breathes slow and steady.  An anxious, frustrated and overwhelmed person breathes as if they just finished one hundred laps in the pool.  So, to regain my cool, I am going to change my breathing.  I will take a slow deep breath in, filling my lungs with air and expanding my diaphragm.  I’ll hold that breath for the count of four.  Slowly, I will release the air through my mouth.  I find when I do this four times, the feelings of frustration and overwhelm dissolve with each long, slow exhale.

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My mantra is going to be, “Start With Just One Thing!”  I am going to say it over and over until my expectations that everything needed to be done yesterday will go away.

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I am also going to try less multi-tasking, and multi-thinking.  I am not going to let my mind jump all over the place.  Instead, I will meditate for ten or fifteen minutes when I start to get frantic thoughts of trying to do everything at the same time.

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Instead of giving up my exercising to use that time getting other things done, I am going to keep exercising, or at least walk fifteen minutes a day so that my feel good hormones (endorphins) will go through my body and clear my mind.  Exercise is a mood booster!

Six more Steps we can all practice when we are overwhelmed:

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Recognize Overwhelm by acknowledging the moment you start to feel overwhelmed. Signs to look for losing control, complaining, blaming, feeling rushed, lacking clarity and other signs of negativity.

Remove Yourself From the Situation- take a deep breath, and walk away from the situation that is making you feel overwhelmed.  Ask yourself what has triggered your feelings of overwhelm.

Detach Yourself Emotionally- choose to either shift your perspective of the situation, or change it, or remove yourself, or cope with it.  Ask yourself how you can think about this situation differently.

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Take a Personal Inventory.  Acknowledge your personal strengths, knowledge, tools and the support you have to help you cope with the situation.  And think “what could be the lesson here?”

Think Things Through Rationally.  Think about how you could use your time, tools, strengths and resources more effectively.  Ask yourself how you can work through this situation more effectively, and how you would tackle this in pieces.

Commit Yourself to Taking Full Responsibility of the situation and start focusing on what you can control.  Take one small step at a time.  Say to yourself, “Even if I can’t do it all, I can at least do …….”

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The best advice I can give you and myself is that the best way to enjoy the holidays, and your life, is to help make it more worry free.  This means, don’t push yourself to the limits of overwhelm in the first place!

Well, I feel better already, How about you?

You are Awesome!

xoxoxo

Sookie (and my pet therapy partner!)  Sylvie

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Sookie and Sylvie reside in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. We created our mother and daughter in law partnership because we MUDDLE THROUGH really well together (highly unusual for a mother-dogter relationship), we share many interests and love the same things. read more

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