Summertime is full of fun activities, but do your best to not overschedule yourself. If you’re taking a trip, don’t wait until the last minute to pack. If you’re throwing a party, take it easy on yourself and make it a potluck. The less pressure you put on yourself, the less stressed you’ll be in the long run.
1. Acknowledge and accept your feelings.
Whenever you are experiencing any challenging feeling, it’s always important to stop and acknowledge the feeling you’re having. In this case, acknowledge the overwhelm and try to accept it. Overwhelm is normal and expected when you have a lot going on. Acknowledging and accepting your overwhelm is the first step to letting it go.
2. Determine where the overwhelm is coming from.
We feel overwhelmed when there is too much of something: too much to do, too many feelings, too many things to think about, too many people or things pulling us in too many directions… you get the idea! After you acknowledge that you are overwhelmed, ask yourself what’s causing the feeling. For me, it’s often caused by the feeling that I have to give all the people and all the things all of my attention right now and I have to do it all perfectly. That’s a very overwhelming feeling!
3. Figure out the truth.
Once you know where the overwhelm is coming from, you might notice that you’re telling yourself a story that isn’t true. Like in my example from above, it might feel like I need to take care of everything all at once and I need to do it all perfectly, but that simply is not true. The truth is that some things can be set aside for now. The truth is that everything will be okay if I let go of perfection.
4. Ask yourself what you need.
This step can be challenging at first but it is so important. Once you know that you are overwhelmed, you know what’s causing the overwhelm, and you’ve been honest with yourself about it, it’s time to ask yourself what you need right now, in this moment. Maybe you need to tackle a task and get it out of the way, maybe you need a break, or maybe stepping outside for a walk will help tame your overwhelm. There is no right or wrong answer here, just figure out what will give you a bit of space to breathe and feel a bit calmer.
5. Take one small step.
Now that you know what you need, take one small step to help yourself. If you need a walk, take one. If you need to check something off your list, do it. One small step will usually lead you to one next step, and before you know it, you’ve calmed yourself down and you’re ready for the next thing.
I hope you find those tips as helpful as I have!!! See you next week!
