Do you feel overwhelmed?
You want to spend the beautiful spring day curled up on a blanket in the park, reading your book and taking in the sunshine.
But instead, you’re anxious. Anxious about all of the things that you have to do, worried about not meeting deadlines, concerned about everything and anything and all of the above.
You have 35 things on your work to-do list, another 20 or so on your family to-do list, taxes are due in less than a week, and a friend just asked you if you can help her move tomorrow. You’re due for a dental exam, and you need a haircut.
You’re thinking about all of these things. Then, you get an email that you need to respond to, and it puts you over the edge. It’s too much. You feel like your brain is going to explode. How in the world are you going to get everything done? How are you going to meet everybody’s expectations?
The truth is that they are probably your expectations and yours alone. Sure, your boss expects you to have your project done by next Friday, and the IRS isn’t going to wait for you to submit your taxes after April 15. However, most things can wait. It’s you who can’t.
I felt this way this morning, then I decided to meditate. After 10 minutes of meditation, the anxiety was gone. I separated myself from my thoughts and my worries long enough to realize that none of it is that big of a deal. Afterwards, I was able to focus on one task at a time, and get enough done to reward myself with an afternoon of reading in the park.
I am bad about keeping up with my meditation. I meditate when life slows down, and I don’t when life gets busy. I often feel like I don’t have time to meditate. The irony is that I need meditation most when I say that I don’t have time. I can’t always be “on”, and if I try, it overwhelms me like it did this morning…I end up wasting the 10 minutes that I didn’t have to meditate on Facebook.
If you ever feel overwhelmed, try meditating.
New to meditating? Then start by doing nothing, two minutes at a time. Try to unplug.
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