
By Michele Kingston-Malone
Michele is a Life Coach with Holistic London. For more information about her work, check her out here.
How do you stop feeling overwhelmed on a daily basis....? Just focus on doing the one thing.
We fight with ourselves to stop looking at facebook, surfing the web or reading emails first thing in the morning and last thing at night. We spend less time sleeping than we do on our media devices: 8 hours 41minutes vs. sleep 8 hours 20 mins! (Ofcom 2014)
So how do we overcome... this feeling of being overwhelmed?
We still need time to sleep and rest, so that physically and emotionally we can recover and stay healthy.
Earlier on this year I recognised the feeling of being overwhelmed, as I began to wake up feeling tired, and I was not achieving my outcomes. I had always prided myself as being a great multi-tasker, but I began to realise that it was not working, when I double booked appointments or forgetting to take a much needed prop along to a presentation! But before I tell you what I did....
Did you know...?
Studies have shown that a typical social media user consumes 285 pieces of content daily, which equates to approx 54,000 words, the size of your average novel….365 novels a year!
Science Daily 2013 predicted that by 2015, the western world will consume approximately 15.5 hours per person, per day, of media related info. No wonder we feel tried, drained and overwhelmed. Most of us today take in more information in a single day than those who lived a hundred years ago did in a decade!
Research; impact of being overwhelmed
A study presented at the British Psychological Society Conference 2015 showed that social media use was related to poorer sleep quality and lower self-esteem as well as higher anxiety and depression levels, a trend which is affecting many levels and demographics of society.
So back to me... I decide to do one thing and focus on it effectively. It worked for me. So please why don’t you try this:
- Settle into your seat in a comfortable but upright position.
- Close your eyes or just focus on the floor.
- Focus on your breath entering through your nose, expanding your diaphragm/chest and exiting your nose.
- Continue to focus on your breathing, and if a thought pops into your mind don’t worry, don’t fret; just refocus on your breathing.
- Whilst doing this let the sounds that are ongoing around you be part of your experience and enjoy the moment of focusing on this one thing....your breath.
- Then slowly open your eyes and enjoy felling less overwhelmed..... Having just done one thing.
Michele is a Life Coach with Holistic London. For more information about her work, check her out here.
How do you stop feeling overwhelmed on a daily basis....? Just focus on doing the one thing.
We fight with ourselves to stop looking at facebook, surfing the web or reading emails first thing in the morning and last thing at night. We spend less time sleeping than we do on our media devices: 8 hours 41minutes vs. sleep 8 hours 20 mins! (Ofcom 2014)
So how do we overcome... this feeling of being overwhelmed?
We still need time to sleep and rest, so that physically and emotionally we can recover and stay healthy.
Earlier on this year I recognised the feeling of being overwhelmed, as I began to wake up feeling tired, and I was not achieving my outcomes. I had always prided myself as being a great multi-tasker, but I began to realise that it was not working, when I double booked appointments or forgetting to take a much needed prop along to a presentation! But before I tell you what I did....
Did you know...?
Studies have shown that a typical social media user consumes 285 pieces of content daily, which equates to approx 54,000 words, the size of your average novel….365 novels a year!
Science Daily 2013 predicted that by 2015, the western world will consume approximately 15.5 hours per person, per day, of media related info. No wonder we feel tried, drained and overwhelmed. Most of us today take in more information in a single day than those who lived a hundred years ago did in a decade!
Research; impact of being overwhelmed
A study presented at the British Psychological Society Conference 2015 showed that social media use was related to poorer sleep quality and lower self-esteem as well as higher anxiety and depression levels, a trend which is affecting many levels and demographics of society.
So back to me... I decide to do one thing and focus on it effectively. It worked for me. So please why don’t you try this:
- Which one blog post am I going to read today?
- Which one thing that would benefit my health do I need to focus on this month?
- Which one way can I support and help someone today?
- Which one insight can I learn from feeling overwhelmed?
- Settle into your seat in a comfortable but upright position.
- Close your eyes or just focus on the floor.
- Focus on your breath entering through your nose, expanding your diaphragm/chest and exiting your nose.
- Continue to focus on your breathing, and if a thought pops into your mind don’t worry, don’t fret; just refocus on your breathing.
- Whilst doing this let the sounds that are ongoing around you be part of your experience and enjoy the moment of focusing on this one thing....your breath.
- Then slowly open your eyes and enjoy felling less overwhelmed..... Having just done one thing.