Being overwhelmed
The proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back is an illustration of what can happen when you feel overwhelmed. Each straw by itself is irrelevant. Yet, the cumulative weight of enough straw can be unbearable.
Life’s events can have the same cumulative impact as the s traw. Most situations, by themselves, are manageable. But when you are faced with one problem after another, before you have a chance to resolve each one, it’s easy to feel over - whelmed.
Situations can also pile up gr adually because of your ina ttention or failure to deal with them as the y occur. Then, seemingly out of no - where, you become overwhelmed. In this scenario, you don’t realize what’s happening until everything becomes a crisis.
So, you can become overwhelmed because of circumstances beyond your control that occur quickly or simultaneously. Or you can become overwhelmed because you neglect to handle situations as they arise. Each scenario requires a slightly different strategy.
When events occur non-stop and without letup, often the first reaction is to panic and freeze. N ot knowing what to do first, you try to juggle everything at once while feeling as if you are about to lose your balance at any moment.
The key to dealing with this situ - ation is to prioritize. Since you can only address one issue a t a time, you have to decide which circumstances require immediate attention. Sometimes, it seems as if e verything is critical. But you, nevertheless, have to pick a starting point for your a ttention.
Unfortunately, the most critical situation is usually the mos t difficult to deal with. So, human na ture being what it is, people will tend to address one of the leas t important issues because it’s easier. However, when you neglect the most critical situation, it will quickly worsen. With enough neglect, a situation will get to a point where it is out of control and the window of oppor - tunity to take corrective action has passed.
For example, the roof on Debr a’s house has started to leak. Additionally, her car needs an oil chang e, the kitchen has to be painted, she needs new clothes for a par ty in three weeks, her son is doing poorly in school, she has a painful tooth ache, and the company she works for is being sold in six months.
Debra feels overwhelmed. So, she goes shopping for her ne w clothes. Rather than prioritizing and going to the dentist first, Debra takes a painkiller and then picks the task of lowest importance. After she gets her clothes, Debra will feel jus t as overwhelmed as before since all of the pressing issues are s till there.
As an outside obser ver, it easy to see what Debra should do first. She should tend to her tooth be fore she risks losing it. If Debr a neglects her roof, more serious damage will occur. Then she has to get her son back on track before he falls too far behind. Once these immediate issues are dealt with, Debr a will have a little more breathing room and feel less overwhelmed.
But when you are the one feeling overwhelmed, your perspective becomes cloudy. You become stressed out and don’t want to deal with anything. Avoidance, however, will allow things to get worse.
When overwhelmed, you have to address the most critical situation first. Then focus your energy on one task at a time. Once you ha ve done everything you can for the mos t important problem, move on to the next pressing situation. Resist the temptation to begin with the leas t significant challenge.
When you take this approach, you will start to feel be tter because you are taking action on the most pressing problems. The more proactive you are, the faster you will overcome the obstacles in front of you.