Feeling Overwhelmed and Stuck in a Rut

commenting to save all this good advice 🙂

I struggle with this too. Some days I can combat it and some I can’t. In our society were told that we need to be productive and we often neglect self care. Self care to me also means slowing down and being kinder to myself. For the most part if I schedule myself to complete tasks on a certain day I often get too overwhelmed to do it. So I try not to do that because if I don’t complete those tasks I get upset. My to-do list is in no particular order (except when I was in school because of due dates and exam study). If there’s a large task I need to complete I give myself time and I break them down. For instance my spare room is used gif storage and filled with a bunch of stuff, most of which I don’t need. Yesterday I broke things down into two categories: stuff in keeping and stuff I’m getting rid of and made sure there was a clear separation between the two. Slowly over the next few days I’m going to go through the stuff I’m getting rid of and separating it into: stuff I’m donating and stuff I’m selling. After doing that I’ll start taking things to thrift stores (most of what I’m getting rid of isn’t worth selling but is still in good condition). After that I can start selling stuff online and get that room into a functional living space. I’m not even going to think about what needs to do to make it a nice space till I’ve gotten rid of what I need to. My mom said I needed to take a day to do it all and just the thought of that made me “nope” right out of the task altogether. Just remind yourself that you don’t need to be super productive and that taking things slow us ok.

I set SMALL and easy to achieve goals. The hardest part for me is being overwhelmed and then I give up. But setting those tiny goals releases happy chemicals in your brain and you are more likely to keep setting goals if they don't feel like too much. Routines. Goals. It sounds so annoying and tedious but it truly is helpful

I have started reading a book "how to keep house while drowning" she talks about putting a positive connotation on "chores" and to allow yourself to do one thing and leave others. Like I did the dishes but my laundry needs done. That's ok. It won't hurt to leave it another day. Then tomorrow that is my task. It has helped me

I watched a TED talk once about forming healthy habits and routines. She recommended that you work on your tasks for at least one minute. Even if you don't do any more than that, you did something. I often find myself saying, "well I may as well finish" after that 1 minute. I also make checklists so that I can check it off and make myself feel better about having done something.

like others have said, having a to-do list/planner helps a lot. i've tried a few different to-do list apps and my favorite is definitely ticktick. lots of options for time, repeating tasks, subtasks, etc. and it's cross-platform, so you can access it on your computer as well.

I struggle with this aswell and honestly I haven't got passed it myself but what does seem to help is having a schedule and planning out my day so I can know when I need to get something done and still find time for myself I do really well until I stop following my schedule so for me the key is to just stick to a routine. Getting a planner helps a lot as well I like to sit down with it and think about what I'm going to do and you can make it into an activity and get decorations for it to make it more fun.

something that works for me personally is breaking down my tasks, doing small parts of a whole makes it seem easier and more attainable. it's also important to not overwhelm yourself with too much in a day, doing one small thing every day or every other day instead of everything all at once is a lot less daunting. hope this helps 💕

hi! i’ve found it really helpful when i’m feeling super overwhelmed to pick one task in particular and work on it for however long by watching youtube videos of other people doing things like studying or reading - it helps me get into the mindset if that makes sense. i also use a planner where i map out my entire day and which tasks to do, and that’s been the most helpful to me. also hi fellow aries 🥰