Feeling Overwhelmed Happens to Everyone – Not Just You

Does any of this sound familiar?

You’re suffering from “information overload” and your brain “hurts”;

You’re overwhelmed at all the new information that keeps coming your way and you just can’t keep up with it all;

You don’t even know where to start with all this information coming at you;

You’re struggling to be able to make sense of this information and “take it all in”;

You feel like you’re treading water or worse, drowning;

You sit at your computer trying to work out what to do next and you can feel your eyes “glaze over”, your brain “switch off” and you just “zone out”;

You wonder what on earth you were thinking wanting to work from home online because it’s all just too hard …

Did any of that ring a few bells with you?  I’m sure it did.

What was your score out of the 7 points above?  Mine was 7/7 at one point!

Despite feeling every single one of those things though, I was determined that I could work my way through it all and become just as confident and capable of everything as what I thought everyone else was …

… and therein lay a big part of my problem:

I believed that everyone else was doing better than I was;

I believed that others would be looking at how “behind” I was and be judging me;

I believed that I would be “left behind”;

I believed that I wasn’t cut out for this after all.

The fact of the matter is, that it was my perception of the situation, not the reality.

As time went on, I found that there certainly were plenty of others struggling too (surprisingly, many of whom I thought “knew everything” or at least knew a lot more than I did!).

Ironically, I ended up helping a few of them and surprised myself in the process – I really had learned something after all!  That was a very exciting time for me, as it gave me more confidence in myself which helped convince me that I really could “do this online thing” afterall!

About four months ago, I had the privilege of becoming a founding member of Jodie Thompson’s Profit Being You Community.

I joined the community with the expectation that I would be learning a lot of new information (I love learning new things ).  Well, I’m very pleased to say that so far, I haven’t learned much at all!

“What?!  That can’t be right”, I hear you say.

For the record, that is NOT a bad thing or a criticism of anyone at all.  What I’m saying here is that I have learned so much from Jodie Thompson over the past couple of years and it really has sunk in! (Jodie was the first person who I met online that I had personal contact with – via skype -  and as a result of that, she became my first online mentor – thanks Jodie )

From what Jodie has taught me, I’ve been able to work out lots of things on my own and where I couldn’t work it out, either Jodie has been able to help out, or I’ve at least had enough knowledge to know where to find what I was looking for, and how to interpret and use the information that I found.  I’m rather chuffed about all that.

I’m so pleased that I persisted with learning what Jodie was teaching me, because now I’m able to teach others what I’ve learned, which is something that, only a couple of years ago, I didn’t believe I could do.

In fact, there was a time that I didn’t believe that I had anything to offer others – online, that is … I’m a mum first and foremost and a good one at that – however, I now know that I DO have a lot to offer (and believe me … that has taken a long time for me to honestly believe, let alone say to anyone else!), and I am loving helping so many others, sharing my knowledge and of course, learning more and more!

Now, getting back to the point of this blog post, I’ve been helping lots of people online for quite a while now, including helping out in the Profit Being You Community since it first started, and the thing that I say to everyone who is struggling and thinking that they are asking me “silly questions” (of which, of course, there are none) or being a nuisance (which nobody has been at all), is that …

None of us are born knowing these things.  Every single little thing was brand new to each of us at some point in time.

Plus, we all have different experiences, different lives, different commitments and pressures … and at the end of the day, nobody is being left behind or should be feeling bad about themselves because they aren’t the same as everybody else (ironically, many are “in the same boat” as a lot of others, but they think that it’s only them!  Haven’t we all been there?! … I have, that’s for sure!).

Where possible, make the changes you can and need to, to help get you where you want to be.  And remember, it’s your life and they’re your shoes – you’re walking in them, nobody else is!

Remember that there are only so many hours in the day, and only so much one person can physically and mentally achieve in one day – don’t be so hard on yourself.

Find yourself a mentor if you don’t already have one.

So to sum this up:  be kind to yourself and allow yourself the time that YOU need.  It’s hard at times when you see others “achieving more” (and I use that term loosely) quicker than you are.  But remember, it’s not that you can’t, it’s that your current situation isn’t conducive (supportive) to that happening right now.

Stay positive (and that does not include saying to yourself, “I’m positive that I can’t do this!”) and give yourself enough time to learn what you need to know in order to move on to learning the next thing.  Focus on the things that you can do well (you can read my blog post on Focus here), and you’ll be amazed at how much easier it becomes once things “sink in” and make sense (and it will ).

For some, that will happen relatively quickly. For others, it will take longer.

Believe it or not, you’ll be teaching others how to do just what you’re struggling with right now, in less time than you think!

So don’t worry … it’s all good

Tagged as: being focused, feeling overwhelmed, focus, information overload