Besides being a fun word to say, the above title is exactly how I’m feeling at the moment. So bear with me on this post, which is unplanned, off the cuff, and potentially definitely going to be rambley (rambly? rambl-ey? You get the point.). But at least there are gifs.
Since last week I’ve had the sudden feeling that December/Christmas is right about the corner and I am horrifically unprepared. There are house projects I want to get done, presents to be made, blog series I need to prep, photos and photobooks to be put together, and parties to plan for. It’s all suddenly piled up (in my head). And I am. Freaking. Out.
I’ve spent the whole day so far twirling from room to room touching from project to project without ever actually getting anything done. The result is my living room and bedroom are trashed as I try and reorganize our bookshelves (we just bought a new one), the kitchen counters are full of things I need to ‘put away’, and the dishes are still piled up from this morning having not magically done themselves like I hope for on a daily basis. And everything needs vacuuming. Cue brain speak: You suck as a housewife! Your house is in shambles! Don’t you know you have parties to be prepped for in two months?!
Also, it’s supposed to snow this weekend which means my brain goes into Mommy panic mode and speaks to me like this: Congrats dimwit, you have yet to buy a winter coat or boots for your daughter yet! What are you going to do, send her out in the snow and ice in her Hello Kitty sneakers and a sweatshirt? Great parenting!
Then there are all the art/Christmas presents I’m making. Tomorrow is a new WIP Wednesday and all I can think is that I haven’t gotten much done. So should I draw?! Paint?! Sew?! All of the above at the same time?!?!? And of course, anxiety brain must kick in: If you weren’t so slow at painting and sewing, you’d have all this done by now! And your graphite portraits should be finished by now, way to go!
I don’t consider myself an overly stressed out person. More often than not, I am a very relaxed gal who enjoys days with her little one. But every so often, things in my mind pile up like this and my brain turns into a total asshole. It tears apart any shred of self confidence I have in my abilities to get things done, and it can be quite discouraging.
Luckily, I have gotten quite good at managing jerk brain, and kicking it in the keister. My top tips?
- Take a deep breath. Or ten. I know how cliche that sounds, but when I’m in the throws of anxiety ridden stress, closing my eyes and taking a few minutes to just BREATHE really makes me feel like I can manage things.
- Make. Lists. I live by lists, but sometimes I need to break down everything and make it into list form. Checking off even the littlest thing gives me a sense of calm knowing that, yes, you are accomplishing things even if it seems like the list is endless.
- Walk away. Take a nap. Okay, I know this seems completely counter-productive, but sometimes sitting down to watch an episode of guilty pleasure on Netflix and ignoring my endless to-do list is just what I need. That hour is like a reset for my brain, and I come back ready to tackle my projects!
To sum up:
What do you do when you find yourself totally stressed out?
anopensketchbook.wordpress.com 
Your tips are pretty much exactly what I would suggest, especially the lists. It’s so good to be able to look at what you need to do and to cross something off when it’s finished. It makes things seem more manageable. I have total faith that you’ll finish what you need to, and if anything doesn’t get done, then it probably wasn’t *necessary*. (But I think you’ll be fine.)
Thanks! Even just ranting it out helped. I’ve since made a list and already feel better. 🙂
It’ll be okay, just breath! Don’t do the WIP post tomorrow if you don’t have anything, it’s okay! When I am stressed I either take a breath, take a nap or just start crying. Then I feel kinda better and start writing a list of what I need to get done and that’ll usually help to get me back on track 🙂
Jessica
the.pyreflies.org
Same! And venting helps too haha!
Oh my gosh, I feel all of these feels. This was basically my entire day today.
UGH. Hope yours improved! Mine didn’t shape up too badly in the end.
Oh god, I know what you mean! I haven’t finished the rest of this week’s posts, I have a work event tomorrow, I have to make a ton of phone calls for work, and all that is stressing me out! I get overwhelmed just by the idea of things too! Making a list definitely helps me as well. Somehow just putting it down and realizing that the list of things I have to do isn’t crazy long helps. It can be done. If I do have a lot to do, it helps to break it down into “immediate” and “do that shit later.” lol
You’ll be okay! Christmas seems really close, but you’ll have time to get everything done! Deep breaths! 🙂
~Sara
So true! That is definitely a great benefit of a list…thinking I have ten million things and realizing it’s not so bad is definitely a great peace of mind.
Yeah, sometimes a good “brain dump” is all you need to put things back in perspective. I’m also a compulsive list maker. If I find I can’t sleep due to stressing I just grab a notebook and start putting everything down in writing. By the time I’m done I always feel lighter, and usually, sleepier. I keep telling myself I’m gonna have the jump on the holidays this year, but I just looked at my calendar for November… so, A for intentions…?
Yep, your list is spot on. Deep breathing is usually the first thing I do when things start to pile up in an overwhelming way. If that doesn’t work, I crawl under the covers and sleep. Sleeping fixes everything… except the ‘getting things done’ part. But it usually re-energizes me so I want to get things done AND effectively makes me forget about the stress.
Hope everything goes well for you and you get back on track! 🙂