Overwhelmed???

The word alone can immediately weigh down your spirit.  The definitions range from

• Bury or drown beneath a huge mass
• Defeat completely
• Give too much of a thing to someone
• Inundate

Raise your hand if you can relate!  Oooooo… there’s a lot of us, isn’t there?  A sea of hands are waving over mountains of paperwork, laundry, piles of life circumstances.  All with one collective S-I-G-H.  While we may not know each other face-to-face, or know the details of what’s going on, most of us can empathize as a community to this epidemic.

As a life coach, I see it daily.  As a woman juggling many duties, responsibilities and goals, I experience it daily.  So where do we begin to tackle it all?  It sounds terribly oversimplified, but the truth of the matter is, we begin with baby steps.

Take one area of your life where you feel most stressed and overwhelmed, an area that is particularly pressing.  Let’s take an example – finances, which can be a very common problem.  Let’s say you have a credit card that has a big, bahonkin’ balance.  Okay, before you start crying or throwing up, let’s just breathe.  Now, let’s look at the numbers.  That’s the first step.  Identify the problem – big debt, not enough money to cover it.  Now, take the next baby step – how much is the monthly minimum payment?  Can you pay that?  If not, maybe you can call and see if you can get the payment lowered (step).  Can you find other means of income, like a part-time job or selling something (step)?  Can you eliminate or lower other monthly expenses to increase your income to pay the bill, like getting rid of cable or carpooling to save gas money (step)?  If you can make the monthly payment, is it possible by some of the means just stated that you could pay more than the minimum (step)?  Can you now cut up the card and stop charging?  (BIG STEP)  By having the courage to identify your problem, and begin exploring/researching options and possibilities (step…step…step) you are able to slowly and methodically find answers, lifting the overwhelm to a manageable dilemma that, with each step, gets smaller and smaller and provides more breathing room.

I realize this isn’t some magic wand answer, but each small stride represents a change in the trajectory of your course.  It may seem almost invisible today, even tomorrow.  But as you continue on faithfully, your path will change, and you will see that difference over time.

So what are you dealing with today?  List everything on a piece of paper, each area, each problem.  Then take them one at a time, and begin looking at possibilities and choices in ways to manage, delegate, or even eliminate some of the burdens that are suffocating you.  Deconstruct the mountain into small piles, and deal with each individually.  Your overwhelm may give way to a less complicated, more controllable life.