Overwhelmed

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Overwhelmed

This morning I was feeling really overwhelmed with all the projects and all the details and all the unknown variables and they all need to be done now. Impossible!

Having all these things on my mind, ruined my sleep, completely distracted me at morning Mass, distracted me during my Holy Hour and distracts me from really giving my attention to Sandy my wife and the other people who need me.

This overwhelm leaves me exhausted, grouchy, emotionally down and it steals all my creativity.

And to add insult to injury, it is just when I am overwhelmed with all that needs to be done that, I am tempted to escape through a thousand temptations.

Do you ever feel this way? Are you ever overwhelmed?

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Humility is the first step to overcome overwhelm

Only God has the capacity to handle everything all at once. And we are not God.

A few days ago, we meditated on the fact that because God is outside of time, He has an infinite capacity to see everything at once, think of everything, make every choice, watch over every outcome, all at once. God has the sudden and immediate concentration of everything.

We don’t have the capacity of God. We have a very limited capacity for experience. We can only have our experiences piecemeal, in little bits, divided up over time. First, we have this experience, then that experience, then the experience after that.

We begin to overcome feeling overwhelmed by humility. Humility is the virtue where we practice living in reality. Only he can think of and do everything at once. I am not God. I am a human person with a limited capacity. God made me this way. He doesn’t expect me to handle everything at once like him.

If you can accept your limitations, that you are human and not God – then you have the first step to overcome your overwhelm.

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Prudence is the second way to overcome overwhelm

When you are overwhelmed, immediately turn to God in prayer. Remember, He sees everything, knows everything, has the power to do everything, all at once. So, the most prudent thing to do is stop what you are doing, go to him and ask him what to do and give him time to enlighten you.

Then take the three steps of Prudence:

First, think. What are all the things on your mind – what needs to get done. Maybe write them down. The first temptation is to rush off and get busy without thinking. Fight the temptation to be rash.

Second, prioritize and decide what needs to be done first. You can’t just think about things forever. You need to make a decision. Here we must fight the temptation of indecision.

Third, take action. Do what you have decided to do and don’t quit until you have finished. The inability to follow through is the thing you have to fight here.

In this way, if you follow the steps of prudence: pray, think, make a choice and follow through – you will make great progress against overwhelm.

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You can’t carry all the cafeteria trays at once.

One reason we feel overwhelmed is that we are trying to think of and do everything at once.

You can’t. Remember – only God can do that. We have a limited capacity. (Anyone who thinks they can think of and do more than one thing at a time is just a person who lives in distraction – you are fooling yourself). We can only think of and do one thing at a time.

Resist the temptation to think of everything that has to be done. You can’t carry it. It is too heavy.

Think of going to a cafeteria where the treys pop up at the head of the line. Imagine trying to take every tray and fill every one with food all at once. Totally overwhelming and impossible. But that is what we are doing with our thought of everything that has to get done.

Nope! It wont work. Take one tray at a time. Fill it with the food and drink you can handle now and leave the rest for later.

Do the same with everything that is overwhelming you.

You have taken the steps of prudence. You see and have chosen what must be done now. Do that and resist the temptation to think of everything else right now.

Live in the present moment doing the task at hand.

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God has your back

Paragraph 301 of the Catechism is very consoling. It says:

With creation, God does not abandon his creatures to themselves. He not only gives them being and existence, but also, and at every moment, upholds and sustains them in being, enables them to act and brings them to their final end. Recognizing this utter dependence with respect to the Creator is a source of wisdom and freedom, of joy and confidence.

Only God has the ability to think of and do everything at once.

He made you the way you are. He wants you to think and choose and act – but he won’t abandon you.

So, take responsibility, do what you can, and God who sees all things and can do all things will work everything for your good.

Trust Him and surrender yourself to his Providential Care.

He’s got your back. You are safe.