We all feel overwhelmed from time to time. It creates feelings of panic, frustration, fatigue and a crippling sense of pending doom. Wanted to share what I have come to consider the rule of three. You see, I have learned that the feeling of being overwhelmed starts when I have three things piled up, and then a fourth gets added. If a fifth gets added, then I feel like the sky is falling, life is over and everything is hopeless.
I tried this out on one of my teenager once. They came to me with a desperate plea, I am so overwhelmed. I have so much to do. Oh, life sucks. I said you have a million things to do, and because of that you are feeling overwhelmed right? They said yes. I asked them to start listing them. They could only get to a list of four. Four things that were bugging them at that current moment. It was not millions of things, it was just four things. The fourth thing had pushed them over the edge into despair. The cure for feeling overwhelmed is very simple. List the 3 to 5 things that are actually bugging you right now, pick one and just get that one off your plate as fast as you can. When the number of outstanding stressful thins gets down to three, suddenly, you feel better about everything and life does not seem to be as gloomy.
It is really that simple. If you are feeling this morning, I am so stressed out! I am so overwhelmed! Here is what I propose. Sit quietly somewhere for just a few minutes. Takes several deep breaths, try to not to focus on anything other than your breathing. Then when you are done, open you mind. The first stressful thing that you have to do will pop into your mind. Just set a course to get that one thing done right now. Just go do it, despite all your feelings of discouragement. Watch what happens. That was probably the fourth thing. You will now be down to three, and life will suddenly seem all roses again.
It is amazing how real this rule of three is, at least for me. Maybe you are a person with a higher capacity, and you have more like a rule of 6, but something tells me that us humans are more a like than different. We can only really handle so much at any one given time. So as a consequence we will actively be thinking and worrying about three things. I used the rule of three this morning. I was feeling overwhelmed. I just sat here and thought, what is one thing that is bugging me. I accomplished that, and now suddenly, I am feeling better about the world. Amazing how that works.
Guy Reams
