Day 144 - A Year to Clear - Reduce Overwhelm

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Lesson 144: Reduce Overwhelm

“When you feel overwhelmed, you’re trying too hard”
— Thich Nhat Hanh

I think we get overwhelmed when we invest too much emotion and feelings into something. If we’re getting stressed at work, we might be placing too much pressure on ourselves. If we are anxious about going to a party, is it because we’ve built up in our minds that we are uncomfortable in meeting new people? When we’re over analysing a situation and welcome in worry, do we spend too much time going over the finer details that causes overwhelm?

Today is about reducing our overwhelm. What is something that you can do to reduce it?

I personally have a situation at work that causes me anxiety now. I am trying to take the advice of my councillor who says that I should try and think of ways to add value to myself and the department. Because I have no team objectives and accountabilities, it makes it difficult for me to think of what I can do to help improve our department. What I am focusing on is reports that I can do with the potential of them becoming useful later. By focusing on how I can add value, this draws away from the anxiety I get. The anxiety is caused by not having answers and directions from upper management passed down and sometimes it feels pointless coming to work with no clear objective. This all stemmed from a restructure and I’ve been told to relax my expectations as the company catches up. It’s good advice to not overwhelm my mind. I am just trying to place it into practise.

What can you do today that will bring on more ease?