A to Z Blog Challenge: O is for...

 Overwhelmed

If you have visited my blog in the past, you would have found this theme several times. It is the one thing that I often struggle with, but over time I have begun to become better at managing it.

But not only managing it when it happens - I have now become better at recognising the symptoms of the situation as it starts to happen. And the sooner I notice it, the less the impact, and the sooner I can do something about it.

I have a lot going on: work, writing, and creating and teaching art. While doing all those things is my choice, and most of the time I am very happy with what and when I do all these. In the past the feeling of being overwhelmed suddenly surprised me, and then I would just do nothing for days, unable to get anything done. As someone who is self-employed, this is not a good situation.

Then I sat down and thought about what caused the situation, and how I could better manage it. And in that process, and it happening again and again, I have worked out what to do for me. Preventing it is not yet something I am capable of, but being more aware of what is causing it at that moment, has helped me to figure out how to cope without needing the do-nothing-days.

I am now planning my time, especially my work schedule, better. I am also following my gut when it comes to my creative activities. Yes, they are on my schedule, but unlike my work which has deadlines, I have learned to trust my energy levels, and managing what I can do in a day.

Two weeks ago I had to have my car serviced - normal for all of us that drive our own cars. I also left home 90 minutes earlier than normal. Because I know it was to be a longer day away from home (the service station is close to the lab), I planned to do tests that required more time on the same day. The tests went well, but by two hours after lunch, I haven't heard anything yet about my car. Which was unusual since it was a standard service, nothing special required.

When I called, I was told that my car hadn't yet been serviced; they were running behind. I then asked one of my colleagues to take me to the service station, so I could wait there, instead on holding them up when closing time for the lab arrived.

I met other people who had to wait too, so it was nice chatting to while away the time. My car was ready just before 5pm. While I was happy with the service, I wasn't about having to drive the highway back home in peak traffic. My husband was already home at this point, so he got dinner for us (at least I didn't have to cook).

Thanks to the grace of God, traffic flowed. There were not many big trucks struggling up the hill, and I made it safely home although it took nearly three times longer than it normally would. It is uphill all the way home from the lab, and it is a steep one, hence the concern about the big trucks.

The exhaustion of that Thursday, took me two more days to recover from. While it was difficult, I did manage to do some work on the Friday, because I had a deadline. I simply took care not to overdo it.

This was a long post, and thank you if you read it until the end. How do you deal with this modern phenomenon of being/feeling overwhelmed?

Until tomorrow where I will explain more on how I plan an unpredictable schedule.

🇿🇦💜 Linzé