Hi! My Life is Overwhelming! Here's How I'm Doing it!
When I decided to go back to grad school, I knew it was going to throw off my schedule. I knew I’d have to shuffle around my routine a bit. I planned to work out one to two days a week at work instead of with my swollmates. I knew I’d have to use Sundays as study days. I was ready.
HA. HA. HA. Joke’s on me!
I wasn’t ready. I’m about to take midterms and can confirm I am still not ready.
Between two classes that are outside of my comfort zone, an expanding role at work, pretending to help with this blog and my young professional board commitments, sometimes it’s a lot. Like a whole lot. Like one day at work I was teetering on the verge of a total meltdown.
Yet, lots of people exclaim, “Wow! You do so much! How do you do it!”
So, let me behold to you the magic of how I “do it all.”
Not always well. A professor I had my sophomore year once said, “Do the best you can with the time and resources you have.” Clearly it stuck out to me then, and I still repeat it to myself. I’ve never been a perfectionist, but I with so many things going on, I am even more okay with done being a viable solution, no matter how pretty.
Delegate. I once asked my mom to research and buy me a computer. While that is absurd, she did it for me because she could see me on the ledge. A lot of people hate delegating, but I love it. Again, refer to #1, if it’s getting done, it doesn’t matter (that much) who or how it’s getting done.
Take it one day at a time. Every time I think about how many tests, deadlines, charity events and social obligations I’m locked into, I can feel the weight begin to sit on my chest. You know what they say about eating an elephant: do it one bite at a time.
Be honest with people. One day I just flat out told someone, “I’m not okay.” And then he brought me a cookie and a picture for my cube and I was better. It’s okay to tell people how you feel, and it’s fair to them, because they probably aren’t part of the problem, but you might accidentally treat them that way.
Listen to good music and workout. I know it’s one more thing I insist upon adding to my plate, but the release is really good for me. Even if I speed through it, getting it done is getting it done.
Pick things you’re passionate about: Think about when you’re pouring beer and the head starts to spill over. That’s basically my life now. However, since it’s beer I’m putting in the cup, it’s a whole lot better than if your cup is filled with something awful like room temperature coffee. I love being in school (just maybe not these subjects), and I love the charity I support. It’s easier being overwhelmed when it’s with good things.
Give yourself some grace. It’s so easy to be hard on yourself. Take for example right now, I watched 40 minutes of TV and then started blogged. I should be cleaning the kitchen or studying for one of my two midterms. Yet here I am. But sometimes you need to give yourself a break.
Cry and say no. I’m really good at number one, not so good at number two. Just last week I came home, so mentally and emotionally drained, I went on a walk. I wandered the streets where I first took my newly lasered eyes and looked like a psycho because I started to get misty-eyed. And no, I’m not doing better at saying no (even though that blog post was written two years ago). Someone asked me to do something that would cost me four hours of work, and I said yes before I even knew the details. Still working through that one, because you can’t be everything to everyone and that’s hard.
Control what you can. There’s just so many things and people you can’t fix or control. But by god, I can put myself to bed at a semi-reasonable hour every night.
How do you combat the feeling of being overwhelmed? Share in the comments!