Overwhelmed or overloaded?
Many people have been trying to get through to me recently and it can be overwhelming.
Some are asking for help, others want to connect, and several more are pitching me their ideas.
I feel bad when I don't reply promptly to people, but I am realising I just can't take it all on.
I have my own goals and dreams to accomplish.
Nothing slows me down as much as the pressure I put on myself for 'needing to do more.'
A mentor taught me something years ago that I return to whenever I feel this way:
There's a difference between being overwhelmed and being overloaded.
Being overwhelmed is psychological. It's mental pressure.
This is when the stress is caused internally, through worry and doubt.
Being overloaded is rooted to the external.
It is more logistical. This is when I've given myself too much to do that I can feasibly take on.
Many of us confuse the two.
I might think I'm burned out from work when really I'm drowning in the anxious thinking I have about my work.
That's a significant difference that also poses a huge opportunity.
If I'm worrying about a whole bunch of stuff I can't change (often the case), it also means there's a whole bunch of stuff I can let go.
It might take courage, but it's all I can do. And when I stop tolerating stressful thoughts, I feel so much better.
It's like I've just given myself the keys to a boat to a secret island.
If you feel stressed right now, are you overwhelmed or overloaded?
If it's an 'overloaded' issue, then it's time to cut some things out of your life. You can't logistically juggle it.
Be brave and drop it.
If you're overwhelmed, you can let go of the heavy thinking.
And to do that, I focus on action.
Not on trying to fix things through worry….
But by simply doing one useful thing at a time.
If you’d like to significantly reduce mental stress at the core and make this permanent, you might like my Untethered Mind course.
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