That Overwhelming Feeling

How do you deal with that overwhelming feeling? That feeling that the world is trying to crush you and there is nothing you can do?

The last two days have been easy for me. I had family in town and friends over. I did the minimum activity in my business. I should be back to work and ready to go today… but I’ve got the overwhelming feeling.

When I have that overwhelming feeling, like the weight of the world is on me and I can’t go any further, I just want to sit down, have some ice cream and beer and watch TV for the day.

None of that helps me. None of that will get me towards any goal I have in life. And when I do sit down, eat, drink, watch TV and be “merry”, when I finished I’m back to that feeling and just want to repeat the cycle. And that is the definition of crazy… doing the same thing and expecting a different outcome.

I wish I could write the perfect three-step program to get you out of that feeling. I wish I could do it for you and more importantly for me. I’d buy that for a lot of money and would give it away to anyone that asked because it would change the world for the better.

But right now I’m forcing my self to write. It’s painful and slow. But it is the only way I’ve found to get over that crushing overwhelmed feeling. If I sit in it, I’ll feel like the poor guy in the image above. And the longer I sit, the more things are piled on my back.

My wife is an angle and great at getting past the feeling. She can sit down and watch TV for a couple of hours and feel ready to go afterward. She can get a couple of hours of extra sleep and be ready to tackle the world. None of that works for me.

The only thing that works for me is to painfully get things done. Even if it’s the smallest, simplest thing. Even if that thing has no barring on anything else that needs to be done, as long as I get something done it will make me feel less overwhelmed, and then I can head towards something that needs to be done.

I’ve been doing hard bike rides with friends the last couple days and ditching my family for the walk that they sort of want to do as a workout. Walks are okay, but even when I’m carrying a 60-pound pack my heart rate and breathing don’t get up like when I ride hard. So I love the bike rides for exertion. So when even I can, I do as many bike rides as I can a week.

Today, when it was time to go back to walking, the only one that didn’t fight me, was the dog. I almost left him too. But he was so excited about going that I took him with me. Someone might as well be excited about the morning workout. Because by the time I fought with my wife and kid and lost, I had no motivation to go for a walk either.

My walk was kind of pathetic. I went 2.15 miles in 39 minutes. That’s really slow for me. My goal for walks right now is a 15 minute pace. I’ve been hitting about 16 minutes lately. Today was over 18! But I did get out and do something.

I finished my morning routine and started work. This is my work start today. It’s going slow, but getting better as I go. The motivation comes as I work.

I wish I had an inspirational quote here that says start working and motivation will come. That little phrase is what I need to remember.

As I start getting things done my motivation and feeling of self worth come. My overwhelmed feelings go away as I get anything productive done.

Maybe this will work for you, maybe it won’t. But start moving and you will get motivated to move more. Start working, and you will be motivated to get work done. Start smiling and you will be motivated to smile more. The thing I have to do is start. Then my motivation will come.

What works for you? When that overwhelming feeling hits, how do you get out of it? Does it just pass or get worse? Do you have a ritual or something you have tried to get it better?

Leave a comment below on what has worked for you and what hasn’t. We can all learn from each other and become better.

Being better is what this blog is all about. Make yourself better, then make the people around you better, and we can make the world a better place.

Ben Branam

To get a start on anything, try 13-Steps to Self Improvement Worksheet. It’s not the way, but maybe it is a way for you.

If you want to learn more about the program this site is based on check it out at Andy Frisella’s page.

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