What do I do when I feel overwhelmed?
I stop. And I admit that it has taken me while to get to this place of understanding myself.
My previous pattern: I react. Then over 24 hours or more, I think, and consider, and find a course of action, or a solution (one that is far better than my initial ‘reaction’!)
Now, however, I allow myself the feeling of ‘reacting’ and I recognise that I am ‘reacting’, and I say “I do not know what to do. Please give me some time to think about this, and I will do my best to find a solution, or to find understanding within myself.” This gives me time to search within myself, to put aside my hurt, and my confusion, and my ‘reactiveness’, so that I am able to allow peace to come, to allow grace to fill me, and within that peace, and that grace, the answer comes to me in a gentle and soft way.
I have never claimed to be perfect. I am doing the best I can. And I am a constant work in progress, and so, please understand that I am still learning and growing.
Perhaps that is one of the things I admire about myself: I am open to continuing to learn about myself and to grow. Some days/weeks I struggle. I fall out of alignment. I don’t know what to do. But when I can stop, and be still, and listen to the Universe … a small loving feeling comes into my heart, and my heart begins to open again, and I am effortlessly back in alignment. My challenge is to be in alignment all the time. I struggle with that, but I never stop trying!
If I want my life to be happy, to be better … then it is all up to me. No one can do it for me. No one can give me happiness and better times. Only I can make the change within myself, to choose, with great care, what I focus on.
And so … I have learnt to, every day, take time (multiple times throughout the day) to check on my alignment, or lack of alignment. In doing this, I can shift my own energy.
Do I worry about things? Oh, my goodness, lately I worry about so much! I openly admit that, right here, right now. And you know what? It has done me no service to be so worried. And so, from this admission onwards. I am not going to worry any more. I am going to focus on my alignment, and my love, and my thoughts. No more worrying. I am going to Trust, and to have Faith. I have no idea what will happen, and perhaps I just don’t need to know? Worrying has certainly not worked out for me, and so, let me see what happens when I let go of worry, and embrace Trust and Faith.
Being an adult does not mean I have all the answers, nor does it mean that I have finished growing, that I am the ‘final product’. I am constantly changing, constantly growing, constantly evolving. My foundations are rebuilt over and over, and that is not an easy process, but often it is a necessary process.
Sometimes when I feel overwhelmed, stressed, anxious, I stop and look at what is before me, at what is filling my mind, and I take a step back and ask myself: Is there a less stressful way to look at this? Is there a less stressful choice that I am not seeing? The obvious solution to problem X may be to do Y, and though that makes perfect sense, there may be a number of stresses and anxieties that come with fulfilling Y, and so, taking a step back, and letting go of Y, what other choices are there? There is choice Z. It is different, maybe dearer, but has far less stress, and perhaps even no stress at all. And so Z becomes the option. I choose which one is going to work for me not the one that seems most obvious to everyone else.
In slowing down, stepping back, and taking some time to think, and consider, before I take any action, or make any decisions, brings with it a grace and ease. I do not need to be stressed. I do not need to be anxious. And the fact that I have been feeling stressed and anxious just shows me how far out of my own alignment I had fallen. How much I had lost Trust and Faith.
Ease and grace. Peace and calm.
I am taking the rush out of life. I am doing things slower, though efficiently, and I am taking care of myself—body, mind, and soul. In nurturing myself, and learning and evolving, I am of greater benefit to the world, and indeed to my own journey! I cannot help another from an empty cup … and so I must fill my own cup first … and then … as my own cup overflows, I can share.
I am learning every day. I will not be the same person tomorrow that I was yesterday. And I am not meant to be. I am a work in progress, every moment. I would be a fool to hold tight to yesterday when tomorrow holds so much possibility!