The Antidote to Overwhelm

Raise your hand if you feel overwhelmed. 

Keep it raised if you often feel like you’re in a giant game of Whack-a-Mole, where even when you win on something, another more outrageous thing happens tomorrow. 

You are not alone. I’ll bet close to 100% of you raised your hands. 

Some weeks, by the time I get to Friday (or maybe Wednesday), I am so overwhelmed that I have to turn everything off and crawl into bed to withdraw from the constant barrage of despairing news. 

Here’s why you feel overwhelmed: because they want you to feel overwhelmed. When you’re overwhelmed, it’s harder to think clearly, to take action, and to stay motivated to push back. They want our overwhelm to turn to despair and hopelessness, because then we might give up and not resist. That is why they’re throwing so much at us right now. And it is very hard not to become hopeless because we are dealing with some awful and inhumane things. 

So when you’re overwhelmed, remember this: The antidote to overwhelm is choice. 

You get to choose how to engage.

You can choose the amount of news you can handle in one day.

You choose what you need in any given moment (hiding under the covers for awhile is perfectly acceptable)

You choose when to stop working each day, or whether to get outside and move your body.

You get to choose the issues where you’ll go deep and those where you will be an ally but won’t take anything on yourself.

You have so many more choices than you think you do.

This is not a marathon; it’s a relay race. When you get tired and need to choose rest, hand the baton to one of us - we’ll take the next leg. We’re in this together.