Ever Asked Yourself ...
and then, really listened to your answers?
Lots of people feel overwhelmed right now. It’s not just you!
When you feel the need to reach for an easy distraction like a coffee, perhaps you’re really looking for a “pause button” to let your mind catch up with all the busy-ness around you.
It’s good to be busy - but, some balance is essential.
The risk is, you might become more of a “human do-ing” than a “human being” - and lose a sense of who you are and what you want.
But if your response to feeling frazzled is to lose yourself in some mindless scrolling, you aren’t reducing the stress, just avoiding it briefly.
To actually reduce the sense of stress, you need to do that hardest of things - THINK.
In the absence of a well-meaning friend who knows all the right questions to ask, here are a few that you can ask yourself:
What do you want to do?
What’s stopping you doing this?
What is the one thing you would most like to change?
If things don’t change, how will this affect you day to day?
What’s happened to make you feel that change is necessary?
How do you feel about the future?
What is the most difficult part of the change you want to make?
What’s likely to happen if you don’t do anything to change?
How do you feel about what you’ll need to do to achieve your aim?
If you could change one thing right now, what would that be?
Right now, what’s the most important thing you could do to help yourself?
And … do you feel you can actually do it?
What options do you have right now and how soon can you create other options by building step by step?
Skimming the above 13 questions can be done in mere seconds … but just spending a few moments asking yourself even a couple of them could be time well spent.
Identify a problem and you’re part way to overcoming it. Perhaps gaining a bit more insight will move you to a place where you can feel a bit more optimistic about your future.
Even understanding a little bit of why you’re feeling unsettled is a big deal. A small step, but you’ll soon be ready for the next one.