Demolishing Overwhelm with Just One Swing

I don’t know about you, but sometimes my mind is so jumbled up with all the decisions I have to make, things I have to do, and general random thoughts, like whether I should apologize to my fourth grade teacher for saying that I didn’t like her dress.

Overwhelm is no joke. In fact, it is the opposite of funny, and is a type of paralysis that stops us from action. The feeling of being overwhelmed is a special kind of annoyance because it simultaneously tells our body that we are stressed and under attack by releasing adrenaline and cortisol. In essence, we are both overloaded and overstimulated at the same time.

So what to do when you find yourself under attack by the inner workings of your brain? The answer is simpler than you think.

Do the next, right thing.

That’s it. When you are so overloaded with choices and responsibilities, take a pause, breathe and just do the thing that makes the most sense to do next. When you are done with that, do the next right thing, and so on.

Incorporating this strategy does two things:

1. It forces you into a state of mindfulness as you focus on what is the next right thing.

2. Because you are practicing mindfulness, your body responds by calming itself. When your body is calm, both cortisol and adrenaline stop flooding your brain and you can begin to think more clearly.