Life lessons: How to overcome overwhelm

Have you ever not thought ahead and then found yourself in way over your head? Well, most people have had that happen to them sometime in their life. Today we’re talking about adventures and misadventures. Doug has a story that fits both those categories. Doug shared, “I get nervous just thinking about it. It happened a long time ago. Several of us were traveling in Europe going through the Dolomite Mountains in Italy. A friend and I decided to get out of the car and do a little walking. We started walking up a hill, then climbing up through the tree line. It was almost like a force took over us. We kept climbing and climbing, and eventually we found ourselves climbing almost vertically. Then the wind came up and we decided to quit climbing farther. It’s sometimes much more difficult to climb down than to climb up because you can’t always see where to put your feet when you’re going down. I realized this could be pretty dangerous but we eventually made it back safely.”

I asked Doug how he thought that whole experience would have been if they had a guide. He answered, “First of all, I think the guide would say not to attempt that climb without some training and don’t do it without some proper equipment. We had neither of those things. It wasn’t too smart. It could have ended up badly but fortunately, it turned out alright.” What a life lesson!

Steven Covey said, “Begin with the end in mind”. We agree that’s a very good idea. Also, having a guide or mentor can help you in a lot of ways – to avoid the pitfalls, jump over the hurdles and find the best and easiest road to where you want to be. You can learn from what the guide or mentor has experienced to help accelerate your life lessons. Notice how adventures that turn into misadventures can produce a feeling of overwhelm? We realize that it is good to plan ahead so you don’t get in over your head.

We talked to Liz Williams, a Chanhassen resident who is an accomplished professional. We asked her to tell us more about her work and what she does to avoid the feeling of being overwhelmed. Liz answered,”I do environmental health and safety for a living. Part of what I do is, basically, to field questions from the other facilities that I’m responsible for. A lot of situations come up that are on the fly, last minute all-at-once, everything due all-at once- all the deadlines! Of course, some of it is government regulations so that’s not always negotiable to just be saying, ‘I’m too busy. I’ll get back to you later.’ So, the way I deal with it is, I plan as much as I can. We have processes in place to handle all that. I call someone. I call my supervisor. Or, I call one of my co-workers and say, ‘Hey, I’m overwhelmed and I need some help or do you know the answer to this question?’ They will help me out or direct me to a resource that can get the job done.”

We told Liz that sounds like a really good way to tackle the situation in that she reaches out for a guide-on-the-side and she is also the guide-on-the-side for the people she serves when she goes to the different companies. Liz agreed that is what she is doing in her work. It was encouraging to hear that, as a busy professional, Liz has found ways to minimize feelings of overwhelm that could easily surface when everyone is asking for their concerns to be answered immediately. We thanked Liz for sharing her methods to overcome overwhelm.

Whatever you are doing in life, there can be overwhelming times. Sometimes it’s about relationships, parenting, caregiving or a host of other areas. How about you? What possibly overwhelming situations could come up for you?

Here’s a challenge: We encourage you to think ahead about what could happen to make you feel overwhelmed. Get some information about those possible situations and, as Covey suggests, plan ahead to get the end result you want to achieve. Then, where it would be helpful, get your very own mentor or guide-on-the side who will share knowledge and experience to help you. That way you can have the best and smoothest journey to what you want to achieve. We would enjoy hearing if you found yourself in an overwhelming situation and how you were able to overcome overwhelm.

Chanhassen residents Doug and Lynn Nodland are Success Coaches and owners of The Balance Center. They can be contacted at WeCare@SharingLifesLessons.com

© Doug and Lynn Nodland 2018 Articles and videos may be shared in their entirety with attribution.