Five steps to overcome overwhelm.

Some days everything feels a little bit TOO MUCH, and this is even more apparent during a global pandemic, so here are five simple steps to take you from chaos to control.

Step 1: Get grounded

When stress and anxiety begin to creep in it is easy to feel like you have become a whirling dirvish, which escalates as you begin to panic. I tend to find myself racing around trying to achieve too many things at once and as a result start walking into table corners, dropping things and generally running around like a tornado. If this is you,

STOP.

Literally. Stand still - put down whatever you’re holding, inhale, feel your feet on the ground, let your shoulders drop and engage your senses. What can you hear, see, smell, feel? Keep breathing, in for four, out for five. Just one minute here is enough to disrupt the cycle.

Step 2: Get it out

When life gets busy, so do our brains and it’s almost impossible to think clearly when you’ve got a to-do list as long as your arm rattling around in your mind.

Grab a blank sheet of paper and take one minute to jot down everything you can think of that you need to do, remember and achieve. Put it aside and walk away for now. You aren’t going to achieve anything if you’re still feeling overwhelmed.

Step 3: Get outside

The saying goes that a change is as good as a rest, so take this at its most basic and take a minute to change your physical location. Get outdoors, even if for just a minute. Take a deep breath, walk to the bottom of your garden and back or just stand and listen. The increased oxygen levels will freshen your body and mind, the change in location will allow you a little respite and the sight of nature (even if it’s just a weed in the pavement) will soothe your nervous system.

Step 4: Get it over with

Do you have one task on your list that has been loitering there untouched because it feels too big or too stressful to tackle, so you spend your days ticking off hundreds of mini tasks to avoid doing it?

That one task is adding to your stress levels by just sitting there. The mini tasks can wait, take the bull by the horns and get stuck in. You’ll find that you feel instantly lighter for tackling it, and may even find that it wasn’t as bad as you’d convinced yourself.

Step 5: Get organised

If you’re anything like me you have a huge to do list and tend to get paralysed by deciding what to do next. Instead of wasting time and getting stressed by indecision, try making it part of your routine to plan out your tasks through the week. I like to take a few minutes every Sunday evening to wipe clean the planner whiteboard, check the calendar and things that need doing and spread it all through the week in small but achievable daily tasks. This way, the tasks still get done, but the mountain doesn’t seem as high.

I hope this helps you to feel a little less overwhelmed, and remember that if you’re struggling day to day then don’t hesitate to reach out. There are a number of free resources on the NHS website HERE.