Sometimes life gets complicated, that is a given. And my life has recently become complicated.
As they say… “Life happens!” When life happens and you’re walking on a predictable road it’s manageable, not easy, but manageable. When “life happens” and things are kinda unstable, the complications manifest in overwhelm.
Well, I was feeling overwhelmed and I was thinking about what to do about it. Overwhelm has a feeling of drowning attached to it. Here is the definition from the dictionary.
Overwhelm: 1 Bury or drown breath a huge mass. 2 Defeat completely 3. Having too much to do: to Inundate
When we are overwhelmed there is very little conscious thought, it’s almost like we are living in panic, in that state By default, we think only about surviving. It is not a great place to be.
In the movie “A Christmas Story” a boy took a dare to put his tongue on a frozen flagpole. He was stuck there and in total panic. That is how I was feeling. It’s a pretty good illustration of how overwhelm can make us feel… Stuck!
I wanted to blog about it and discuss it with you, so when I was writing, I needed to explain that the kind of overwhelm I was in had nothing to do with housework. The house and cleaning hadn’t overwhelmed me for years.
With that, I had a huge ah-ha moment, because what stopped that overwhelm at home that used to plague me and made life overwhelming, confusing, and dreadful is the same thing that could stop any overwhelm.
So I thought, if the messy house overwhelm could be gone, couldn’t what stopped it, stop every reason we have for overwhelm? It was wonderful to feel that there was a solution!
I asked myself, what made the overwhelm of the mess at home disappear? The answer was… Knowing what to do!
The overwhelm at home didn’t vanish when the house got neat and clean, it happened before any evidence of the mess was gone. It happened when I knew how to get out of it and how to live my life day by day.
When I found the book “Sidetracked Home Executives” in 1989, I began to learn that I wasn’t alone. It gave me the tools I needed to live life in order. But not only that… I found someone to connect to. The authors (Pam Young and Peggy Jones) had been where I was, and after reading their journey and solution I trusted them and began implementing their advice. If they could do it, I could too.
So I’ve come to understand that there is a way to get out of overwhelm in EVERY area of life. It is: Knowing what to do, and believing that you can.
Even if there are deep feelings of unworthy holding us back, or fear. Even if we have defeating self-talk that has gone on between our ears forever. Breaking free of negative feelings becomes a wonderful side effect of doing the work.
There is so much in this video because it was an impromptu and literally a chat about what was going on, I hope that you will watch it.
I get kinda emotional in the video, if I keep writing about it, I’ll get into overwhelm, LOL!
Here are what some people on Youtube wrote me:
Ingri B. – “Wow, Kathy. I shed some tears listening to this. Thanks for your openness— it’s relatable and helpful. Priceless message for me at this point in my life. Grateful for having met you virtually and for having participated in TTU 9-10 years ago…”
Veralisa – “Hi Kathy! ️ I am sorry for the loss of your friend Pam Young.
Thank you for sharing about what you went through as far as the hopelessness and overwhelm of suffering from addiction within the family and how it affected everyone. It was interesting how you related disorganization to having a problem and simply finding the solution- “the how to.” Seeking help and then eventually finding it. It’s life-changing.”
Artemis – “Another very good video.”
Bonnie Rodriguez “Love listening to you.”
Let me know what you thought!
With Love,
Kathy
The Tidy Tutor
