Guess what I’ve been doing for the last hour and a half? Guess. Did you guess nothing? You are mostly correct. On the outside, I have had the appearance of doing nothing. On the inside, I have been completely overwhelmed by all the things I could be doing.
Is there anything particularly overwhelming about today? Nope. It is actually quite the opposite. Today, I have time. The world is mine. I have childcare today. It’s my third day off of work and moming in the last four months.
(WordPress hates when I use mom as a verb. You know, to mom. “Moming” is my personal, present perfect progressive favorite. It FEELS right.)
Anyway, Ive got a to-do list the size of Texas. I woke up with kid-on-Christmas-morning level excitement, knowing I could do whatever I wanted today. Quietly. Peacefully. Beautifully alone. And then… I froze.
Highly sensitive people, or HSPs, and introverts are often very easily overwhelmed. If you find these labels kind of annoying. I feel you. Most labels are. Despite this, I have found some peace in knowing there are a lot of legitimate reasons why I act the way I do. Increasing your self-awareness is always worth while. If you want to know if you could be an HSP or an introvert, I recommend looking into Dr. Elaine Aron‘s work. You should also read, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can’t Stop Talking by Susan Cain. I read it as an ebook loan from my local library. Frugal win!
Long story short, I think and worry, worry and think, until I’ve wasted so much time that its too late to act. If that has ever happened to you, there are some things that can help.
1) Break it Down to Make it Manageable
Lists are my life-blood. Making them and then crossing items off just soothes my nerdy soul. One thing that works for me, is to make sure to break tasks down into small chunks. For example, a load of laundry would take up three spots on my list; washing/drying, folding, and putting away. Honestly, who hasn’t seen the laundry train go off the rails at one of these points?
This strategy can make some people feel more overwhelmed, because it makes for a very long list. If you can get past that, it can reduce overwhelm by making the items on your list very achievable. When tasks are stupid simple, it is impossible to view them as too difficult. You can pick a couple easy items to start with and build momentum.
2) MITs, If You Please
Most Important Tasks, are not a concept original to me. You’ll see this idea everywhere. It is so popular, because it really can work. It may seem to conflict with the broken-down list strategy I just mentioned, but I’ve found the two can work well together. Once you’ve made your very thorough list, mark up to three tasks that are the most important to achieve. My to-do lists tend to be long and somewhat unrealistic. Marking MITs can help to set your priorities. Everything else is just extra credit.
3) Set an Intention – Spirit Not the Letter
Setting an intention is another thing that makes me roll my eyes. Oh mindfulness, you’re so hot right now.
My inner hippie has a hard time telling my inner cynic to shut up. She is a pacifist after all.
Intentions can be wonderfully vague. They aren’t tasks to be accomplished. They are less about what you want to do and more about how you want to be.
This morning I was so overwhelmed, because these days off are very important to me. There was a lot of unnecessary pressure on a day that should revolve around joy. It was time to set some intentions.
My intentions for today are to be kind to myself and to enjoy the day as it unfolds. I was ruining this special time, because I was so worried that I would ruin it. Yeah, ridiculous. If you’ve ever had anxiety about having anxiety, you know how this goes.
Setting intentions can do wonders for your state of mind. They can change the way we perceive ourselves and our surroundings, so invite that hippie-dippy positivity right on in.
Take deep breath. Then feel free to check breathing off your list.