I keep a little sign beside my bed that simply reads: Give it to God and go to sleep. The first half should really be my mantra throughout my entire day.
Can you relate? Do you constantly try and grab hold of every moment, controlling it all?
I truly believe this is what triggers overwhelm. And I also have complete confidence this is more easily rectified than we allow.
Overwhelm comes when we think we must do, fix, and overcome all the things. But this is not how we’re meant to live.
I wake up with such hope and spend those precious first few moments chatting with God half asleep in my cozy bed. Then at the end of the day, in that same soft spot under my weighted blanket, I continue that calming, heavenly conversation.
I’m finally realizing God isn’t supposed to be bookends to my day. Those intimate talks with Him, my time in prayer, should be drizzled throughout my tightly scheduled, meticulously planned days.
And it only took me well into my 50’s to figure this out. So to save you some time, here are 3 ways I’ve found to stop those annoying and unnecessary feelings from disrupting God’s purpose for us.
3 Tools to Overcome Overwhelm:
1. Use a God focused daily planning system.
I’m a serious planner. It brings me so much joy. The problem is I seem to lose my mind when I veer off course from it. And if there’s one thing I know it’s that we will have things come up out of the blue every single day.
So I created my own planning system years ago to overcome this tight schedule obsession. It includes ways to add fun, self-care, and of course, time with God to my life in easy ways. If we don’t plan for those incredibly precious moments with Him, they probably won’t happen.
I include a section on my daily pages for what I will fast from that day (sugar, social media, worry…) and what God is telling me through a verse and my prayer time. This centers my mind and focus to what’s most important.
I also choose 3 top things to complete that day and include a timed schedule block to rein my expectations in on what can actually be accomplished. This has helped tremendously with overwhelm by setting me up to win rather than getting stuck on the undone pieces of a very long to-do list.
To learn more, check out the Body Mind Soul Daily Essentials Planning System.
2. Give control back to God.
I cry out to the Lord;
I plead for the Lord’s mercy.
I pour out my complaints before him
and tell him all my troubles.
When I am overwhelmed,
you alone know the way I should turn.
-Psalm 142:1-3a (NLT), emphasis added
This is the most important, yet can also be the hardest. I could not fully comprehend the magnitude of giving it all to God when I was younger. But now in midlife, looking back on all He pulled me through makes me wish I’d followed this tip all along.
It’s still a struggle on many days. We can’t be perfect at this, but if we keep turning back to Him again and again, He will show us the path…
Trust in the Lord with all your heart;
do not depend on your own understanding.
Seek his will in all you do,
and he will show you which path to take.
-Proverbs 3:5-6 (NLT)
We weren’t created to do everything all at once or just depend on ourselves. Trust and seek Him.
3. Try Essential Oils.
I truly believe those little brown bottles filled with nature’s beauty are God’s gift to us. They serve me in so many ways—immunity, mood support, and yes, even overwhelm.
Two of my favorites to assist me in this struggle are Adaptive and Balance essential oil blends.
Adaptive assists with feeling centered, increases a sense of tranquility, soothes and uplifts mood, and even reduces feeling of anxiousness and tension. Balance helps create a calming, quieting environment as you consider all aspects of life: relationships, work, fitness, health, and emotional well-being. (Listed benefits straight from the mouth of dōTERRA.)
And isn’t thinking about all those aspects of our busy lives what brings us overwhelm?!
I keep both blends in various forms around the house. The roller bottles are perfect for a quick topical application and pick me up, while several drops in a diffuser bring me a little comfort throughout the day.
If you’re new to these natural solutions, I have a free Essential Oils 101 online class to teach you the basics.
Overwhelm can distract us from our true purpose by making everything in our lives equally important. This creates nothing but stress and keeps us in a perpetual state of unnecessary busyness.
By building an intimate relationship with God and using the tools above, I think we can find a way out. I hope this served you well…
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