Those of “a certain age” will remember the 70’s Children’s Game - Buckaroo. It shared a stable (sorry!) with the likes of Mousetrap, Ker-Plunk, the incredibly well named, Frustration, and Operation. The games you took in to play on the last day of school.
Many Scottish households have had the last day of school this week, and with it perhaps a slight easing of pressure associated with the myriad roles being undertaken by many in Lock-down - worker, parent, teacher, entertainer to name but a few.
In a conversation this morning, the person I was chatting with referred to having had “a buckaroo kind of week”. This immediately took me back to childhood and a memory of the plastic mule quietly bearing more and more load until something as innocent and unassuming as a miniature water canteen, triggers an apparently disproportionate reaction. And in that instance, I got it!
There have been days and yes, sometimes weeks, during lock-down when on the surface it looks like I have “lost" the heid” , at the sight of a plate that has failed to make it into the sink. That plate is my plastic water canteen. It represents failing to recognise that I have become overloaded and need to take time to carefully and gently remove the guitar, spade, saddle and cowboy hat that represent the other tasks and roles that I have wordlessly accepted as mine and mine alone.
What I do to answer overwhelm…
Recognise that I am feeling overwhelmed, name it and then STOP
Get out for a walk or run as soon as possible
Capture the ideas that pop up during my walk/run in my Movement and Mind Journal
Use the endorphin buzz from my exercise to focus and write down all the tasks and to-dos that are in my mind, my calendar and notebook in one place. The act of gathering and writing it down in one place often turns the mountain (as seen in my mind) into a molehill
Decide whether I NEED to do it as opposed to WANT to for some weird reason like “the person won’t like me anymore if I don’t” !
Decide if I WANT to do it, even if I don’t NEED to because I will grow from it in some way or it’s just plain enjoyable
Identify if someone else can do it and ASK FOR HELP
Hold up each task left on my list against my purpose and decide on priority based on how it will impact - this reinforces WHY I’m doing something and helps me discard or de-prioritise things that don’t immediately serve my purpose.
