Do you ever feel overwhelmed?
Please say yes. It’s not because I want you to feel that awful feeling, but because when I’m in the middle of feeling overwhelmed I feel so alone. Like I invented it.
*exhale*
Last week was one of those weeks. Two trips in a month, sick kids, school vacation, piles of laundry, no food in the house…wow, it was quite the week.
Thankfully, my son is starting to feel better (fingers crossed) and I’m starting to breathe.
Until I see my unpacked luggage and the messy drawers and my the unread number of messages in my inbox keeps climbing and, and I just want to lie down. Except that I can’t sleep because I can’t stop thinking about the pile of stuff I have to tackle.
It’s so much! So…overwhelming.
And then I decide to clean out my purse. Out go the useless receipts from CVS, the old tissues (hey, I have a sick kid, remember?), the old lipgloss tube with no lipgloss left in it.
Aah…that feels better.
So I have a bit of energy and start to clean out my fridge. Why? I wasn’t bothered by my fridge. But it’s there. So I do it.
And then, then I feel superhuman.
And I start putting away the laundry. And replying to email. And writing.
The little things. Tackle them first. It’s all in the little things.
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
I know how you feel. It is the little things…like little chocolate bunnies that I eat for breakfast before the kids wake up.
Or the malted eggs. Ahem.
I love making a list, with the small/quick/painless stuff at the top — then, as I scratch each item off, I get both the tactile and visual satisfaction of seeing the list shrink.
And I love stealth, pre-breakfast consumption of holiday candy!
Thank you for this. I’m in the middle of being hugely overwhelmed by things both good and bad, and I can feel the icky depression cycle trying to dig its claws in, and I’m trying so hard to keep it from getting a grip. I needed this reminder that getting the small things out of the way equal something much bigger. So, thank you, friend.
That’s exactly how I feel. & exactly how I get started. One small task that leads to another that leads to another…
& I so needed to read this today. I felt like I was never going to get on top of it all – my to-do list is too daunting. I’ve gone through 13 emails already with 13 left & I just want to give up. But I’m going to see each email as it’s own task. Until I’m done.