Recently I’ve come to terms with three of my default strategies for coping with overwhelm:
1) Run away
2) Just keep working and plowing through
3) Don’t feel
I ran away from jobs when I got overwhelmed.
I kept working to the point of exhaustion, eventually getting Mono.
I kept the lid on emotions that I told myself I didn’t have time to feel.
I now realize that I used these coping mechanisms because I didn’t know what else to do. I wouldn’t ask for help.
But what I really wanted was a way to get off the hamster wheel safely.
I wanted to take a break, to find joy again, to have more fun instead of just coping or running away or plowing through.
With the guidance of Ryan Mathie, I had these realizations when asking what boils down to these questions:
> What scares you?
> What are you telling yourself to create this overwhelmed reality?
> What do you want instead?
Are you willing to take a hard look at the cost of your own default coping strategies?
Are you willing to ask yourself these questions and get in touch with what you really want instead?