Overwhelm, underwhelm, wombling free

No idea why the Wombles theme time came into my head when I started writing that title but if you’re now stuck with an ear worm for the day, I’m really sorry! 

I was thinking about the flight or fight response yesterday (in the shower where I do my best thinking) and I think I’ve mentioned before about there actually being more responses, including a really common one called FREEZE. 

The freeze response is exactly what you’d expect, in the face of perceived danger you just stop and do nothing, instead of fighting or running away and it’s almost guaranteed to be the one that gets you eaten by a saber tooth tiger. 

Recently, thanks to some fairly rapid growth in my business I’ve been feeling rather overwhelmed- I get to this point quite a lot and I know from hindsight that I need to go through it to shift, refocus and manage it effectively but whilst I’m in the middle of it, it has a peculiar effect on me. 

Now I know I have tools I can use to help me- time blocking, pomadoro, a damn good talking to myself but I found I was doing something really interesting (that I just have done before but never really recognised) I was freezing. I was spending ten minutes looking at my list ‘deciding’ what to do or ignoring the tasks I’d planned in, in favour of easier things. 

My overwhelm had resulted in a decidedly underwhelming performance. 

I have no sage advice at this point, no clever hack to give you that can break this freeze- you just have to come through it. I think what I can say it that recognising it for what it is, allowing yourself to feel it and give your brain a chance to refocus and plan for the moment you unfreeze and get back on it. 

It’s natural, it’s normal and it’s our brains protecting us from a real or perceived threat (in this case getting too stressed). We all have moments of overwhelm and we all have periods of underwhelming performance, as long as it’s the expectation rather than the rule you’ll be just fine. 

Trust me. And trust the Wombles too, those little rubbish pickers are wise little fellows.