Featured image by Lee Peterson
Read time: 5 minutes
TLDR:
- We all go through stressful periods regardless of how we look externally
- Making a personalized “I’m overwhelmed and what to do” checklist can be helpful for these moments
Preamble:
Hello Readers,
I wanted to take a moment to share what my mind goes through on difficult days. It’s been a while since my thoughts have been quite so challenging, but I realize that it’s an excellent oppourtunity to share that no matter how carefree life seems, it can always take a bit of a turn when we least expect it.
Background:
Recently, I’ve started posting more on Facebook and Instagram as a way of connecting with others and sharing what I’ve been up to. About 5 years ago though, I stopped posting on social media because, not only was a time suck at the time, it also caused me to go through loops of ups and downs. Happiness for likes and disappointment for things that didn’t generate as much positivity. Needless to say, but at the time I didn’t want to feel that emotional rollercoaster so I took a step back – leaving my profile active, but avoiding posting/commenting as much as possible. Skip forward 5 years to the present and I felt it might be a good chance to reconnect with others. In the past couple days, I’ve been posting what I’ve been up to, the places I’ve travelled and what’s been going on in this blog. While I anticipated feeling a bit of the emotional rollercoaster, what I didn’t realize would hit me so hard again is the judgmental thoughts. Actually, I knew the judgemental thoughts would hit me, but I forgot about the judgement about the judgemental thoughts.
…confusing right? Okay let me break it down.
Social Media Spiral:
Yesterday, I posted about my travels from 6 months ago when I was in Europe. It was fun and I enjoyed reliving the memories about it. I wanted others to know about the joys of travel and take their own adventure, but I knew at the back of my mind that it could be a trigger. I knew that people’s reactions could bring me through a bit of a rollercoaster. Awesome – check!
Then I woke up this morning. Thoughts: “why are you being so obnoxious?”…”no one cares what you’re doing”.
These thoughts I could handle for I knew that these were just mental habit patterns ingrained from years of self-doubt and self-criticism. What I found challenging though was the judgemental thoughts about those thoughts. Before I knew it, I was in a bit of a spiral:
“Oh there’s a judgmental thought”…Remember…be in the present”…”The Power of Now”…”Why can’t I be in the present?”…”I was able to do this a few days ago?”…”Why am I no longer able to be present?”…”What changed?”…”Why can’t I snap out of it?”…”Oh shit. What do I do now?”…”I can’t remember what I normally do to get out of this”…”do I call a friend?”…”But I don’t normally need people’s help anymore” etc. etc. etc.
Analysing my thoughts:
Needless to say, this spiral was stressful especially when I couldn’t remember what I normally did to keep calm and weather the storm. I knew that getting back on social media would be a hurdle, but I thought I had enough mental tenacity to stay even and coast above the rollercoaster. Hahaha! TLDR…all previously stressful situations will take practice to navigate no matter how strong the ship.
(As a side note, it’s also fascinating to type out my above thoughts because I didn’t even realize I was spiralling in the first place! Ahhh…so much learning to be had.)
How I Stepped Out of the Spiral:
While I was in Hong Kong, I met an amazing new friend named Mick (pron…”Mike”). He has this incredibly calm energy and was the person who introduced me to the Power of Now and got me living more in the present. I reached out to him to mention I was having a morning of overwhelming thoughts and to ask what he does. He said it very simply…focus on breathing and to try to notice the absolute silence without the inhale or exhale. This advice was enough of a reminder to go back to basics…to stop trying to analyse why things are different than before and to just be.
What can I say? It passed. ^^
The “Overwhelm Checklist”:
While this was a challenging experience (and helped to deflate my ego of being perfectly strong), it also reminded me that I wanted to share some of the things I used to do to step out of spirals. It can be very hard to remember what to do when a storm arises, but when I was healthy, I knew exactly how to get out of it. As such one time when I was well, I created a checklist of what to do when I was overwhelmed. I kept it in my phone such that I could search it and go through the steps. It was also something I made myself so I knew I could trust it (rather than a random “what do to when overwhelmed” source online…I sometimes have doubts I can follow someone else’s’ advice when my ship is sinking)
To the right is my checklist that I kept on Google Keep for when I was overwhelmed in the past. It’s not updated now as to what I do currently, but may serve as a way for you to make your own overwhelm checklist. I like using Google Keep as I could find this document using words like “anxious, overwhelmed etc.”
Summary:
No matter how we appear on the outside, we all go through stages of overwhelm. If you have these stages, maybe try making your own personalized checklist to bring you through your rollercoasters.
Take care and be well!
~Tracy
World of Wandering Minds 