Overwhelm and Intentionality

Some days I daydream about living off the grid.

Preferably in a log cabin in the woods by a river. Growing my own food. No phones/social media/internet or connection with anyone outside of my actual (chosen or local) community.

We just get so much input and stimulus these days. We’re exposed to so much information, to so many different (and loud!) perspectives. No wonder we get overloaded. Our brains are not made to handle it all. There are plenty of studies on it. Plenty of discourse about it.

For me personally, I think about the sea anemones I’d find when I was beach combing with my grandmother as a child. I’d poke them with a stick, and they would close in on themselves. They’d deploy full protection mode – and rightly so… I’d literally just poked them in the guts with a pointy stick!

To me, too much input, be it information overload, or learning fatigue, or feedback about something that sits squarely in my vulnerability zone, can feel like getting poked in the guts with a pointy stick.

It makes me retreat.

Closing in on myself.

In full protection mode.

So, I dream of having a cuppa, sitting in the sunshine, in a quiet log cabin.

What I have learnt to do in these situations, when I’m overwhelmed, is to disconnect. But to not disassociate.

To go and stand in nature. But not to throw my phone in the ocean.

To sit with the discomfort. But not get wrapped up in it until I can’t breathe.

To face it head on when I have the mental fortitude.

Then I get intentional.

What about this noise (info/learning/perspective/feedback) do I find valuable and want to bring forward, away from the noise, to explore?

I received some feedback this week. Feedback that I asked for. Its timing came on the heels of some great feedback/validation about the exact same thing. So it hurt, especially when juxtaposed to the opposite.

It threw me.

I retreated.

I cleaned my (non-log-cabin) house.

Now, with a bit of space, I’m squaring my shoulders and looking the feedback in face.

I’m choosing what I’m taking forward and what I’m leaving behind. Because I can’t possibly hold it all right now.

And that’s okay.

Takeaway: When information/learning/feedback gets too overwhelming, or activates you

– Stand in nature and breathe

– After that, sit with the discomfort

– Then face it and see what it has to offer

– Get intentional and choose what to do about it

– And leave the rest behind.