Years ago, I was talking with someone at a business luncheon, and at the end of our conversation he wished me a happy March 4th. I considered this to be a bit odd at the time since it was March 2nd when he said it, but I didn’t give it much more thought. A couple days later–on March 4th–I received a homemade card from him. The cover of the card contained a picture of a beautiful waterfall. The inside of the card read:
“Thunderous and powerful, yet oh so beautiful! May your power within thunder out, as you march forth and realize all your dreams. Happy March 4th.”
It wasn’t until I received his card that I caught the literary ploy.
Although you do not need to wait until March 4th to march forth and realize your dreams, it serves as a good reminder to get you moving with whatever you care about most in your life that is not getting the attention it deserves.
What stops you from marching forth?
Many people are paralyzed by mind overload. Compare your brain to the RAM in your computer. There’s only so much storage space available before it’s full and you need to delete some things or store them elsewhere. Just as computers fill to capacity, when you get too many Post-it notes in your brain, your RAM gets full.
There may be a lot of contributing factors to the number of “to-dos” you try to manage in your head. Perhaps you are over-committed, which leads to you feeling overwhelmed and overloaded, and eventually paralyzed by it all!
If you are over-committed, the landscape of your brain may look a bit like this: every white space on your calendar is filled in, papers are overflowing from your in-box, your to-do list is sprouting additional lists, email is out of control, your voice mailbox is full, and there’s no end in sight. Sound familiar?
Since feeling “overwhelmed” does not support your ability to march forth, it may be helpful to consider the underlying causes of you remaining stuck in “overdrive” mode:
- Does being over-committed fill a need within you for approval or recognition?
- Do you feel more important when you're busy?
- Have you unconsciously created a barrier to intimacy with others by being unavailable?
- Are you afraid to be alone with yourself?
- Have you become out-of-touch with what brings you pleasure?
- Are you too accommodating? Has your "no" muscle gone flabby?
Sometimes just getting conscious of what is driving you to over-commit yourself can be an eye-opening experience. Click here to access my free report, 7 Strategies to Overcome Overwhelm.
Next week is National Procrastination Week…a major culprit to creating a sense of overwhelm in most people’s lives! I have so much to share about this topic that next week I will be posting a blog a day about dealing with procrastination. If you’d like to receive notifications, please subscribe here.
