End well for a better beginning

You feel overwhelmed. To get focused again, give yourself a clearer sense of ending and beginning. Here’s how.

Start at the finish line.

12:00:01 a.m. And just like that, a new day has begun. Or perhaps as you read this, it’s mid-day, or near the end of another 24 hours. It can feel pretty exhausting and overwhelming.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed by the rushing current of life, remember that what happened right before this has a direct effect on how you feel now. Here’s why:

What we call the beginning is often the end. And to make an end is to make a beginning. The end is where we start from.

T. S. Eliot

Create a compartment.

Yesterday’s gone, as the lyric says; yesterday’s gone. Instead of mourning what just happended or worrying about what comes next, focus on this moment in the flow of time.

You set the scene. You can create a very livable space to live in right now, if you choose to. The great thing about compartments is even if you get lost for a minute, you won’t get too far off track.

You create the compartment. You have that much power as a thinking human. It is possible for you to stop and start time.

Here’s how.

Let’s say you suddenly realize you’re overwhelmed. And you further decide you don’t really like feeling this way. You have the power to stop, drop and roll.

Stop whatever you’re doing. Even if you’re at work or in the middle of a fight or a panic attack, just stop. Shake it off. Impossible, you say? It is until you try it. And then practice it.

Drop what is troubling you. Again: impossible, right? She hurt me. He ignored and disrespected me. I blew it again. How can I possibly just drop it? You do it the way you do anything: by doing it, and doing it again. Confidence comes with repetition. By practicing the disipline of changing your narrative mid-stream; by getting out of the boat again, you become able to change your mindset under the most difficult conditions.

Roll. After you have stopped and dropped, you have the opportunity to begin rolling the camera again on your own story with a fresh start. Again: if you choose to.

The takeaway:

Develop the skill of creating compartments mid-stream to allow yourself to get out of overwhelm and back into the game.

Read more.

I can help you create compartments so you feel less overwhelmed.