I don’t think I just speak for myself when I talk about the pressures of day-to-day life and the overwhelm that comes with that.
Sometimes I catch myself trying to do it all. I take on too much and struggle to say no. My response to overwhelm is to put my head down and get on with it but it comes at an expense. I end up exhausted and stressed I find myself compromising the things I enjoy and my health, but both of these are my uplifters.
At times I have to accept that I can’t always meet my own expectations – I set the bar high there. I’m a perfectionist and a people pleaser, I try to meet my own expectations and I find it extremely hard to say ‘no’.
Here are some tips if you are feeling overwhelmed – have a read, they could help you, and maybe I’ll take my own advice
Say no sometimes – you can’t do everything, you are not superhuman and you can’t be in two places at one time. It’s quite easy to feel deflated because you have said no to something but remember that you have said yes to something else. Assess what you need, if you feel you need a morning at home to recuperate, its ok to reschedule that brunch with your friend for another day – the chances are, your friend might also be grateful of a free morning.
Prioritise when things get overwhelming – it is important to refocus and set priorities. The things that we often push aside are the things we take for granted like our family, our health and our personal growth. These all create positive feelings; I will often jeopardise going for a run or a walk because I don’t have time. I find if I don’t exercise, it has a negative effect on me. I can become unconfident in my body. If I’m not spending time with my family I get ‘mum guilt,’ and if I am not working on my personal growth I feel like I’m failing. It is important to establish what your priorities are.
Look after your health – when we are busy and overwhelmed it can be very easy to push things aside. You have been feeling under the weather, but you don’t have time to make a doctors appointment let alone attend an appointment, so you leave it until next week. We often find this with our patients here at Christchurch, they may have a tooth that has chipped or has become sore but it is left until it chips some more or becomes more painful, in turn this leads to a more complex and costly problem. Its extremely easy to postpone an examination because you don’t have time and your teeth feel fine right now but attending an examination allows the dentist to detect any oral health issues before them become a bigger problem.
It is also easy to grab some convenient food and eat on the go when you are busy but convenient foods are generally more sugary and unhealthy, you may find they are less filling so you are snacking more frequently. Snacking on sugary foods can lead to tooth decay.
Don’t skip important parts of your daily routine, use that moisturiser and make sure you brush your teeth before bed and don’t avoid the floss – you might be exhausted but skipping these things can impact your health.
Change how you do things – making minor changes can make dealing with the stressors in life a little easier. Establish healthy habits, re-organise the home – I find a declutter can have such a positive effect on my wellbeing.
Accept that you can’t be perfect – perfection takes longer – it’s a fact, we also get caught up overthinking the task and it can hinder the enjoyment of it. Don’t let being a perfectionist hold you back or add to your overwhelm. By doing a task well and ‘good’ we are still ticking it off and doing a better than ‘ok’ job. I’d say that’s still success.
