Can’t seem to get yourself moving?

Feeling overwhelmed can be a big part of not being able to get on with things, including being physically active:

where do I start?  what do I do?  how long for? don’t I need special equipment? what if I injure myself? what if I look stupid?

And so on…

Yes, overwhelm can be paralysing. It seems to sneak up on me all the time in different areas. When I find myself putting something off, it often turns out to be some kind of overwhelm – either I have to choose from too many options, or the task just seems too big because I haven’t broken it down into the steps my brain can cope with, or I just haven’t thought it through enough to know where to go next. Any which way, it’s draining and tiring and off-putting. So the action doesn’t get done!

The thing I find is, once you examine it enough to realise it’s overwhelm, you can start taking steps to overcome it.

So, here are some signs of overwhelm:

• resistance – to doing something at all, to doing it a certain way, to taking advice about it
• tiredness – when the mere idea of it makes you want to lie down
• grouchiness – when the mere idea of it makes you feel petulant and irritable
• indecision – you can’t decide what to choose or what action to take
• gone fishin’ – you can’t face it so much you are totally ignoring it
• dread – you feel sick or numb when you think about what you need to do

Inertia and procrastination are the most common result of these symptoms, and we’ll talk about what to do about these next time.

Are you overwhelmed by something? Is it keeping you stuck? I’d love to hear from you about this.