We all feel overwhelmed from time to time. It’s normal to feel like you can’t handle everything that’s happening in your life. But what do you do when overwhelm is a constant feeling and it’s preventing you from living the life you want? If this sounds like you, then you might be dealing with ADHD overload. Don’t worry, though. There are ways to manage ADHD overwhelm and start living the life you deserve. Keep reading for tips on how to get started.
And of course, if you’d rather watch, the video is here. If you’d rather listen, you can head to the podcast page, or listen to it right here.
Shit’s gotten real out there, and so it felt like the perfect time for me to share some ways to work through overwhelm. Obviously, this kind of stuff might not work with social issues, but it can help with the rest of what you’ve got going on. So…to work through it, do these three things:
Slow down
This seems counterintuitive, right? Like, obviously if you’re feeling overwhelmed and behind, this must mean that you should SPEED UP AND DO MORE.
Au contraire, mon frere (I probably spelled that wrong but oh well): you’re probably getting overwhelmed because you’re already moving too fast, and trying to do too much. You’ve overloaded your prone-to-shutdown-as-a-defense brain to the point where it’s had to…well, you know.
So what you have to do is help your brain lower its guard by giving it a second to process. Do this by doing deep breathing and meditation, if you can; if you can’t, do it by doing something that doesn’t take a lot of brain power, like drawing or coloring, or even taking a nap if you have the time and the ability. Honestly, you’re feeling stuck because your body is trying to tell you to slow down, so do it. Then you can move on to the next thing, which is to:
Baby yourself
I honestly can’t think of a better term, despite how hard I try. What I’m trying to say is: if a baby is overwhelmed, you don’t yell at the baby to suck it up and to stop lollygagging around, and that life is pain, do you?
(Here’s where I sincerely hope you’ve agreed.)
So…don’t do that to yourself. Instead, allow yourself to feel that overwhelm, and to challenge it. Ask yourself why you’re overwhelmed. Figure out what the emotions connected to it are, and try to name them with their reasons.
“Okay, so I’m overwhelmed because I’m angry that I have three major projects and I also have to cook dinner and help my kid with a science fair project.”
“I’m overwhelmed because I’m ashamed as I look around my house and realize I need to sweep, mop, scrub the sinks and toilets, and paint the outside of the house.”
Don’t focus as much on the tasks, but focus on your emotions. Don’t tell yourself that you’re weak or wrong for feeling any of them. Just allow them to be there. And then I want you to remember two very important truths:
- YOU ARE AN ADULT. I mean…I’m assuming you are. But even if you got here somehow and you aren’t, the point is that you’re CAPABLE. You’ve been able to make it through every single thing so far that life has thrown your way; this will be no different. And that bullshit we believe as kids that a TRUE adult has it all together? We know it’s bullshit now. So let that go. And then, remember that
- Most things aren’t as bad as they feel in the moment. Task-wise, anyway. Obviously there can be some big life things that are going to be rough to get through, but you’ll still work your way through it. That’ll just take some real work, and maybe that work is to be left for another day, for when you feel strong enough. You’re going to decide this when you…
Figure out what to do next
So NOW it’s time to write down every single thing that’s causing your ADHD overwhelm. All of it.
Then, you look at what’s on that page, and you decide what you can control TODAY. If it all still feels pretty urgent, then I want you to pick the most urgent thing, and simply decide what the first step is to finish it. JUST THE FIRST STEP. ADHD brains love trying to look at everything, but that’s how we got to where we are now. So try your best to focus on that first thing.
Then do that first step, and don’t focus on the next step until the first thing is done. We do best when we feel like we have a plan, and you’ll probably find that once you’ve started moving again that the overwhelm dissipates.
ADHD overwhelm is normal, but can be pushed past most times. If you’d like help working through this, get on my calendar to work together. I’ll walk you through what’s going on and how to work through it so that you can move forward with your day-to-day life and business goals. You got this.
