Overwhlem.
Let's talk about that sneaky little devil shall we....
Have you ever got to the point where you are just sat or stood somewhere and you feel unable to move for a second? You cannot seem to collect your thoughts or senses and everything just seems to stop for a moment, even though the world around you is carrying on regardless. And when you finally come to and are able to consider taking the next step, you simply cannot figure out what to do or maybe even how to do it. That's overwhelm.
The thing about overwhelm is that is doesn't have to originate from a negative experience. In fact, it can be due to overwhelming good news...a jackpot lottery win would certainly have this effect on most people!
So how do we deal with it? The same way in which we determine how long a piece of string is!
There are so many variables that it would be almost impossible to write a step by step guide to overcome this. But my one piece of advice to you would be this;
Find a quiet place to retreat to and allow your thoughts to whirl for a while. Your brain is busily trying to catch up with the vast amount of information and potential outcomes possible for your situation(s). Give them a few minutes to settle, even if you need to be somewhere else...you will be no good to anyone else whilst in a state of overwhelm but I expect that being 5 minutes late to a meeting isn't going to be too taxing. Once you have gathered your thoughts, you will generally have filtered out a lot of the 'white noise' and will be left with some semi-sensible options on what to do next. That's when you make a plan of action on what comes next (even if this plan is to not do anything about it and spend the next 24 hours processing the information before deciding how to act)
Seems sensible right? But in the moment it is REALLY hard to do. Practice makes perfect as they say...
So next time you feel completely overwhelmed, try giving the above steps a go and see how you get on
Speak soon
Claire x
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