Forced to stay at home, people are assuming we have more time to do things. For many, that's just not the case - trying to work full-time and home school kids is tough. How do you even make time for yourself?
And if you do have a bunch of time on your hands, you're expected to produce works of art or finally discover what it means to live your best life ("if not now, when?")
The former leads to lack of time and energy to take care of yourself and the latter can lead to a loop of anxiety and some kind of existential crisis.
Both are overwhelming. Here are a few small strategies to consider.
1) One problem is abundance. You have access to too many things and to too much information. Think about minimizing. Explore the values that you want to live your life by and make your decisions based on them. Overwhelm occurs when we think about too many things. Having clear values will help narrow your thoughts, making your decisions and choices a lot easier.
2) Start saying no... a lot. You can't be everything to everyone. And if you try to be, how much quality are you actually giving? Overwhelm occurs when you're spread too thin.
"Always think about what you're really being asked to give. Because the answer is often a piece of your life, usually in exchange for something you don't even want. Remember, that's what time is. It's your life, it's your flesh and blood, that you can never get back." - Ryan Holiday, Stillness is the Key
3) Find the next manageable step and just do it. James Clear calls this the 2-minute rule - any habit can be scaled down to a two-minute version.
"Eat better" becomes "Google a recipe book"
"Write a book" becomes "Write one word, any word"
"Work out more" becomes "Pull up a virtual BOMB recording" 😉
Your value system will help you discover what the next important thing you should do is. And when you find that, what's an easy 2-minute win that you can achieve?
Kevin & Victoria
P.S. Just surviving might be good enough right now. You don't have to do jack shit. This is a once-in-a-lifetime event. So if you just want to pick your nose and find a booger that resembles a wounded animal, have at 'er.
