I recently went to lunch with a good friend who also happens to be a great business woman. She just got back from a huge business seminar with hundreds of people, tons of information – like drinking from a fire hose. You’ve been there.
She shared with me how overwhelmed she felt, and how she just knows that she’s missed the boat because there are so many things she hasn’t done yet, and how everyone else will pass her up.
She’s lucky she’s got me as a friend, because I very nicely told her to stop being an idiot.
Ok, no, I of course didn’t say that. But I really wanted her to know that everyone gets overwhelmed when bombarded with lots of information all at once. Not to be cynical, but the goal of many of these programs is to overwhelm you – so that you need their next product or service. Now, I’m not saying it’s a bad thing, I’m just saying that’s how some of them are. But (as usual), I digress…
News flash: Thinking that you’re the only one who gets overwhelmed is pure self-sabotage.
Everyone gets overwhelmed – even really smart, hardworking, motivated people. When you tell yourself the lie that everyone else has it figured out, and you’re just the loser oddball – you are just shooting yourself in the foot and stopping your forward momentum.
Now why would we do this to ourselves? Because moving forward means moving into the unknown. It means possibly looking like we’re getting too big for our britches. It means opening ourselves up for criticism. Seriously scary stuff.
Best bet? Focus on the upside. The opportunities for movement, growth, profit, connection, feeling great, reaching higher, inspiring others, helping more people, and rising above the fray. In other words – getting bigger britches!
Keep your attention on the good things ahead, and sabotage and overwhelm don’t stand a chance.
Well, on the Hicks-Abraham Emotional Guidance Scale, the feeling of being overwhelmed is 11 out of 22, so its about midway to joy/knowledge/empowerment/freedom/love/appreciation. They say to work your way up gradually, using your emotions as your guide. The next step up is frustration/impatience. So, find a thought about that situation of frustration, etc. Then to pessimism, then to boredom, then to contentment, then to hopefulness, then to optimism, then to positive expectation/belief, then to enthusiasm/eagerness, then to passion, then to number one as above. Taking each step makes it much more likely you really got there versus “faking it”.Anyway, that’s how I have been doing it and it seems to work.
I love your perspective about the “faking it” technique – one that has failed me for years. Thanks for your valuable comment!
I have been feeling overwhelmed for quite some time. I am past the whats wrong with me stage and the beating myself up stage and just want to get going now and enjoy life again.
As Alanis Morrisette wrote…
“I recommend biting off more than you can chew at anytime.”
Eventually it all comes together ( I’m not together yet).
Sometimes it comes down to faith…in yourself.
I am also not good at the faking it. People can feel it and sense it and then it rebounds back to me thinking that they can pick up on it and I flounder. I find cheerfully being open about being overwhelmed works best for me. I follow Abraham Hicks but didn’t zone in on that scale of 22. Glad to know overwhelmed is # 11.