When does stress turn into overwhelm and what you can do about it right here and now?
Stress
How many adults are experiencing stress right now?
85% of adults are experiencing stress regularly according to a research poll in February 2018 www.forthwithlife.co.uk/blog/great-britain-and-stress/ with the most common causes being:
1. money
2. work
3. health concerns
4. failure to get enough sleep
5. household chores
Overwhelm
Overwhelm is what happens when you are already stressed and you decide to heap more things on to your already cluttered schedule. Whatever it is you are trying to get done, there are only so many hours in the day and those hours aren’t elastic even though we try our best to stretch them.
How would it feel if in the next 10 minutes you could feel calm, in control AND have less to do?
You can’t control the outside world - but you can control your inside world.
No matter what it is that is causing you stress today - there are many things which are outside of your control. So let’s just put those to one side for a moment and concentrate on what is in your control.
What is in your control is how you respond to what’s going on for you which starts with clearing space in your head by finding some calm.
Here are 2 easy steps you can take to gain instant calm.
Find somewhere to sit and take a few slow deep breaths
1. Close your eyes and listen – what sounds can you hear?
Try to listen out for 5 different sounds you can hear right now. Without judging them – just be curious – what sort of sounds are they?
High pitched / intermittent / changing?
How would you re-create this sound?
What does silence sound like?
2. Where can you feel your body?
Find 5 places where you can feel your body, for example
Where your body touches your chair / the floor / itself etc.
Notice where this is happening and send your attention to those parts of your body as you become aware of each one.
What else can you feel?
Any tension?
Just relax those parts of you that feel tense.
These are 2 of the quickest and most effective ways of instantly escaping your unsettled thoughts and replacing them with calm, as you direct your attention elsewhere.
Now you are feeling calmer. If you could take ONE thing away from today’s busy schedule right now, what would that be?
· What is not critical that you could easily remove and do some other time?
· What might you be about to do that if you actually stopped and thought about it, is totally unnecessary?
· What’s coming up that you need to say NO to?
Track your daily habits to gain more control and start choosing how YOU can de-clutter you schedule:
You’ve heard of de-cluttering your wardrobe. The following daily tracker can help you look at your day and assess where you are spending time that you don’t want / need to be doing. Keep it by your side and fill in as you go through your day. Each half hour for a day or two will show up what’s actually happening and makes it easier for you to see where you can be making changes. Now you can start eliminating what is not serving you.
If you have tried the above and / or other self-help techniques and are still feeling stressed and overwhelmed, it may be that you need more than a ‘quick-fix’.
One-to one coaching and therapy can solve underlying emotional issues which may be causing you to feel stressed or distressed. For more information or for a chat to see how I can help:
call 07976 572544 or contact me at indra@indrajackson.com
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