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Something Worth SharingManage the Overwhelm I managed to catch up with a dear friend this week and we were discussing the issue of overwhelm - when you just have too much to do and too little time to do it. I guess most of us have felt that at one time or another, but it’s definitely an increasingly common concern I hear from colleagues and friends. In asking people about their ‘overwhelm’ experiences, I hear descriptions of ‘drowning in expectations and actions’. So what are people doing to help with this? It turns out that a common strategy is to do more…often starting with writing lists of what needs to be done. The issue with this is that it’s yet another action to do - whilst we’re still drowning - and therefore almost adds to our overwhelm. You wouldn’t organise a wardrobe while stood amongst the clothes! If we take the example of an untidy room as the analogy for our busy lives. The best approach is to firstly clear everything out and make space, then take one object at a time, assess it and consider if it adds to your interior - if it does, add it, if not don’t put it back. This is what we need to do for ourselves too - create the space by stopping and then assess what we put into our lives or even our day. We’re all very good at accumulating and hoarding information, opinions and judgements, let alone physical tasks and actions. The word ‘overwhelm’ is formed from OVER “excessive, too much” + WHELM “to turn upside down, submerge completely, cover”. By thinking about this, it’s clearer to see we need to 1) reduce and balance the OVER and 2) stop the WHELM by creating and protecting space, which includes changing perspective.
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