#12 - Overcoming Overwhelm!
18 May 24
The volume of information that we are now exposed to is huge. Coupled with the demand for shorter deadlines and the need to do more with less, this is leading us into danger territory which is having a major impact on personal mental health.
The feeling of overwhelm will be communicated to you by your body. Feelings of helplessness, anxiety, fatigue and your life running away from you are common.
Being able to overcome overwhelm starts with you actually acknowledging that you are overwhelmed. To ignore what your body is telling you, and believing that you can deal with this through adopting a 'fight through it at all costs' approach is dangerous territory to be in. The approach to dealing with overwhelm is multi-faceted. This is because it is a complex issue.
You owe it to your family to address it.
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#12 - Overcoming Overwhelm!
What?
Twenty-Four years into the new Millennium and it appears we are all working harder than ever. The average human now consumes 74GB of data from various sources per day. This is growing on average by 5% per year.
Additionally, we appear to have morphed into an 'always on' culture where the boundaries between work and personal time have blurred, and where we expect instant decisions and quick turnaround times.
Finally, many workplaces report multiple vacant positions which are placing an ever-increasing workload on those who are in work and who are trying to keep everything moving by covering the gaps.
It's a ticking time-bomb in terms of personal mental health as we all struggle to keep the balls in the air.
Why?
This hasn't happened overnight. It's been very slowly building up over decades. So slowly in fact that many people have not noticed.
That is, until they finally receive the telltale signs from their bodies that they are brushing along the periphery of burning out.
Your body is an amazing piece of kit. Learning how to interpret what it is telling you when you have breached a tripwire and are heading towards an immovable upper limit is key to keeping yourself safe from heart attacks, strokes or mental breakdown.
For those who have experienced overwhelm, it is not a nice experience.
A racing heart, sweaty palms, brain fog, anxiety attacks, inability to focus, sleep issues and constant fatigue accompany feelings of your life running out of control. The sense that you are unable to rectify the situation whatever you do, and the feeling of isolation in dealing with this is palpable.
Some will try to fight through it in a vain attempt to demonstrate their supposed invincibility. This is folly, and dangerous.
The wise understand that they have reached their ceiling in terms of capacity, and they must do something about it - and soon.
How?
To deal with this, there are a number of actions that you can take:
- Interpret what your body is trying to tell you and seek medical advice as soon as possible. This will tell you what is happening 'under the bonnet'.
- Speak to someone. Confide in a friend or your partner. The ability to vent your frustrations is key.
- Approach your line manager and tell them you are overwhelmed and need help. Do not let personal pride stop you from doing this. Your health is your number one priority and you owe it to your family.
- Impose contraints on your working day - working longer is not the answer.
- Accept that if stuff doesn't get done, it doesn't get done.
- Delegate more.
- Analyse your schedule, cut out unnecessary meetings to free up time.
- Learn to say no.
- When you close your work laptop, close your work mind and be present with your family.
- Bookend your day with a start up routine and a shutdown routine and capture our thoughts in a notebook. This frees your mind, and you can truly switch off.
- Focus on what 20% will give you 80% return. Forget everything else.
- Exercise.
- Eat healthily and drink water.
- Set standard sleep times. Go to bed and wake at the same times each day. This will help you fight the fatigue. No iPads or phones before bed!
- Regularly check back in with your Doctor to ensure you can monitor the impact of the changes you have made.
The compound effect of implementing all of the above will enable a faster recovery than if you implement each one individually and in isolation.
In Summary
I hope that you enjoyed reading this newsletter and that it has given you food for thought.
Being able to overcome overwhelm starts with you actually acknowledging that you are overwhelmed. To ignore what your body is telling you, and believing that you can deal with this through adopting a 'fight through it at all costs' approach is dangerous territory to be in. The approach to deal with overwhelm is multi-faceted. This is because it is a complex issue. Each strategy has a compound effect which builds.
You owe it to your family to address it.
Have a great week!
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