O V E R W H E L M E D much?

Things are moving fast for me at the moment. All the things are happening. All the good things, but it's just a lot of them. All this momentum can kinda sorta spur thoughts that cause o v e r w h e l m.

But overwhelm is not helpful in the least. Planning is helpful. But the thing is, when I get overwhelmed, I don't tend to plan. Or get everything on my list done. Or manage people well. Nope–I panic. And that's obviously not going to get me anywhere. 

So, how do I deal with feelings of overwhelm? 

First, I realize that I'm choosing them. It's true, I have a lot of things happening right now. But that's not why I feel overwhelmed. It's because this is what I'm thinking:

• "I'm so busy."

• "I have so much to do."

• "I'm so overwhelmed."

• "There's too much to do."

Here's the thing.

You can only do one thing at one time. Think about it. At any one moment, it's truly impossible to do more than one thing at a time. If you're multi-tasking, your brain is switching hyper-quickly from one task to another. So, in any one second you're still doing one thing. This is also an inefficient way to get things done. 

Here's another thing.

Evolving requires energy. Going from one version of yourself (multi-tasker) to another (focus-er) is an internal battle. Catching myself switching quickly from one task to another and then fighting the urge to give into it takes internal fortitude, which requires energy. 

And growing this much also requires experiencing a lot of new thoughts. It means challenging old thoughts. And that takes work. Consistent work. When you move from one set of thoughts to another, it feels like training for a marathon. Each mile is new. But each mile adds up. And pretty soon you've run a marathon. By taking it one mile (or even one step) at a time. 

So, instead of crazy busy, I'm redirecting to what's true: I'm in a constant state of change. And change is scary at first, but exhilarating. Sticking with it is even more fun.