Tips for if you’re feeling overwhelmed or stressed
Are you feeling overwhelmed, stressed or ‘in the weeds’?
Stress has become a modern-day norm and it is the cause of many health issues as well as a feeling of procrastination and overwhelm which can stop us from making positive progress towards our goals.
Maintaining our beautiful site - Handling stress and overwhelm when faced with challenging tasks
A small level of stress is healthy, it challenges our bodies to push outside of our comfort zone and encourages us to stretch and grow. However stress on the level that it is typically experienced in our daily lives in not healthy or beneficial. It leads to burnout, sickness, depression and many other health concerns.
We find that stress and overwhelm happen when you feel that the resources you have (energy/time/money) are not enough for the task in front of you. Maybe the expectation of what can be achieved in a certain amount of time is unrealistic or maybe you or someone else is putting too much pressure on yourself and the resources that are available.
Intense stress and overwhelm do us no favours, in fact they more often than not block us from making any progress at all as it feels too much to even know where to begin.
For Seb, caring for our land during Spring and early Summer can feel stressful and overwhelming. It is a time of abundant new growth - the trees are full of leaves, the meadow is full of baby rabbits (and so is the veg garden somehow - goodbye sprouts, cabbage & greens) and the orchard is full of young fruits. All this growth makes it almost a full time job at this time of year just to keep on top of mowing and strimming.
Take one step at a time when feeling overwhelmed or stressed
We allow much of this land to be as wild as possible, to create havens for wildlife and to allow nature to balance itself without being micromanaged, however with 20 acres it still takes plenty of time and energy to keep paths accessible and the woodland inviting to humans as well as wild creatures and Seb is certainly kept busy.
To help him deal with the potential of overwhelm Seb has developed some really positive practices over the years to stay motivated to tackle challenging tasks and he’s decided to share these with you all to help you when you’re feeling stressed or overwhelmed.
Take a pause before you start the job to recognise the feeling of stress. It can be intense, but it is there to help guide us.
Take 10 mins to step away, calm yourself with some deep breathing or by broadening your gaze.
Reflecting on why you are doing the task can really help to shift your perspective. If it isn't aligned with your values, can you opt out of doing it? Prioritise, delegate or ditch it?
If you decide to continue with a task, here's what to do:
Take time to set yourself up properly. Don't make the job harder by trying to take shortcuts. Be honest with yourself, are you rushing to get started in the hope of finishing quicker? Don't fool yourself.
Pick milestones to stop, assess and appreciate your progress.
Take a break. Your energy works in cycles of about 90 mins, after which you lose focus and efficiency. Check in with yourself, fuel and refresh. Drink water.
As you go, or when you finish, stop and look for ways that the job was worth doing and that you did it well. Look for signs of appreciation and gratitude - this may not be a direct 'thank you'.
Stand back and generate your own gratitude for the work you've done and the sense of accomplishment at defeating your own overwhelming internal struggle.
Take it one step at a time. You can do it.
Share in the comments your favourite ways to make overwhelming responsibilities feel more manageable.