Our culture rewards busyness and overwhelm
When I ask someone how they are, the default response is often “so busy, working all the hours, totally swamped” and they wear it as a badge of honour.
It kicks off comparison. Someone else will pipe up with how busy they are too; they’re swamped at work and trying to move house, all while managing all the childcare. And it goes on…
We have keep calm and carry on merch. Tired mama t-shirts. Relying on coffee and sugar and having less sleep. Try harder. Try longer.
We try another productivity hack. Buy the new book or course with a 5-step programme promising to help us be more efficient. We should be able to fix this. Other people have it worse, so we just need to find our flow again, head down and push through it, waiting for the illusive day when things will get easier…
But it doesn’t. Something else will come along, or maybe we’re so stuck in the habit of being busy and overwhelmed that it is just the new normal for us and we don’t see the need to change.
What are you doing to get through the day when you’re feeling busy and overwhelmed?
- Are you numbing out to social media?
- Are you feeling overly anxious and unable to make decisions?
- Are you spending money on things you don’t really need?
- Are you eating or drinking excessively?
- Are you procrastinating and finding it hard to make progress on the things you need to?
- Are you filling your head with negative self-talk, beating yourself up about not being able to cope?
Here are some ideas for what you can do instead…
- Breathe. Take a few moments to notice where you are holding tension in your body and breathe into it.
- Write down everything that’s in your head. Make a list, then you can order and prioritise the things that absolutely HAVE to get done.
- Move. Take a dance break, go for a walk, run up and down the stairs a few times. Get out of your head and into your body.
- Do something you want to do first. Maybe you do the thing you want to do from your list, or choose something else that you enjoy. It is totally ok to spend half an hour doing something you want to do to set you up for the rest of the day.
- Speak to yourself kindly. What advice would you give to a friend who was in your position right now? We are often our harshest critics, so give yourself the pep talk and encouragement that you would offer a friend.
- Put boundaries in place. Who and what do you need to set boundaries with? Do you need to ask for some space, or time, or help? Do you need to turn off notifications or say no to some things?
If you’re struggling for ideas for what would work for you right now, just contact me using the button below and I can help you come up with some ideas that are tailored for you.
