There is more to life than increasing its speed.~ Ghandhi
A World Gone Crazy: Cutting Through the Chaos
The world has revved up considerably in the last decade and sometimes life feels as if it’s moving along way too fast. Without the right skills, modern life can rush people past a capacity for dealing with it.
Working with a client recently on Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) strategies, it dawned on me how our fast paced world can make us all feel as if we suffer from this condition. Add the additional demands of being a working mom? You need a full toolbox to combat the rush, the worry, the clutter, and the non-stop stimuli or it can quickly put you in overwhelm.
Three key symptoms of an over stretched life:
#1: Inattention – It’s almost impossible to stay focused. Outside stimuli (sounds, sights, twitter streams, shiny objects) distract you from the task at hand. Clutter rules. Keeping track of time and things is an ordeal. You feel like the world has hit you with a stun gun. There’s so much coming at you that it feels impossible to stay organized. So you don’t, or you try and it doesn’t work.
#2: Hyperactivity – Your engine is revved up. Your brain and your mouth just won’t quit. Your energy level is off the charts, and you’re ready, willing, and able to tackle anything. This behavior can resemble mania. You feel drawn to a million projects and you can’t get a single one done. This leaves you feeling scattered and unfulfilled.
#3: Impulsivity – Everything happens way too fast, and you tend to act without thinking—in particular, you feel stimulated to act without thinking. While being spontaneous and occasionally acting impulsively can be charming and fun, a life lived impulsively leaves in its trail unfinished projects, unhappy people, forgotten commitments, and general disorder. This is where knee-jerk reaction, rather than thoughtful responding, rules.
Considering these factors, where are you on a scale of 1 (calm, collected and confident) to 10 (unnerved, scattered, and uncertain)? Write down your current rating as a starting point.
Continue to monitor the level of your distraction, busyness and reaction and ask yourself, “What is the next best action that serves me?”
Little by little, you will experience greater focus, grounding, and conscious decision making.
Need a little help slowing down the pace of life? Join Dr. Mollie Marti at her Make an Impact LIVE event!
3 Comments
Mollie, this message is so needed, and your gradual approach of increased awareness is brilliant. When people are in overload, especially the hyperactivity you describe, it feels so hard to stop the train and slow down. What you recommend is a great way to slow down and then maintain a healthier, more reflective state of mind on an ongoing basis. Love it!
Thanks, Sue. It’s SO important for women to become more aware of this process so they can stop it sooner.
Also important to build an arsental of tools that work to get us re-centered. This needs to be learned & put together (& practiced) in calmer times because when we get overwhelmed, we become unable to clearly think, “I need THIS now!” When you have created a cheat sheet, you can look and go, “Oh yeah…THAT’S what I need!”
Ah Mollie, you have hit my nail on the head. This is the life I’ve been living for so long and I made a commitment about 6 months ago to stop. The process of unraveling what I created from my space of chaos has been more than a little painful, but I am beginning to see a light at the end of the tunnel. It’s scary to stop the patterns that have appeared to serve so well in the past and be able to trust that a new pattern will serve even better.