Overwhelm!
Just when you think you have your head above water…Enter the looming feeling of overwhelm.
New clients, another evaluation, oh yeah and progress reports…
My mind starts spinning with questions
When am I going to get all this done?
How am I going to do all of this?
Where will I find time to do this AND complete all of my other responsibilities?
Why didn’t anyone consult me?
Why me?
THAT is what my brain does unsupervised.
“victim mode” (dun dun duuuuuun!) …asking question, after question, over and over.
THIS type of thinking is exhausting.
It causes us to feel like a helpless victim of our work; worried, confused, overwhelmed, anxious, down (add yours here).
Then it snowballs. When we feel this way, we are super inefficient. That puts us even further behind. We spend even more time being worried.
You might as well add “fret” on your to-do list, but that wouldn’t make sense!
You don’t have time for that either eerrg! Gasp, do you see this spiraling pattern here?
I want to help SLP’s prevent and recover from burnout. Speech pathologists have too much talent to share with the world to have it stolen by overwhelm.
Get some relief from the spiral
Stop. Breathe. Make yourself ANSWER the questions you’re overwhelmed brain is incessantly asking
- When am I going to get all of this done? Make yourself DECIDE on a time within your work hours to do it. Write it down on your calendar. Honestly commit and honor yourself to complete a massive amount of work during the time you decided on.
- How am I going to do it? Write a simple list of steps to get this task done. List the steps on your calendar. Often, once you chunk things down for yourself it is not so overwhelming. Just like we do for our clients.
- Where will I find the time? You schedule it in your day. Look for something you can “flex” within your schedule, or ask for the time you need. I prefer to get all of my paperwork done within the work day, so often, I flex my therapy planning time as paperwork time. Is it ideal?-No! Do I leave work feeling free and looking forward to the next day?- Mostly 🙂
- Why me? My favorite answer is… Because you CAN and you are a badass! The world needs your special talent so give yourself a big hug and speech on my friend.
There. I answered my mind
Your Brain is like your Employee
Your brain will do what it normally does, unless you interrupt it. Notice your patterns of thinking. If you catch yourself spinning, questioning in overwhelm again, go back to your questions. Show yourself the answers. Don’t let your mind sabotage you; steal enjoyment from your days, weeks, years. Don’t let your mind use up your time and energy in a way that does not serve you. Create a sense of accomplishment for yourself. Prevent burnout. Recover from burnout.
I have a passion for helping people get to a point of where they are not just getting through to the next break…but creating a life that energizes and excites them. Yes it can be done
even if your job sucks, even if you have a ton of other responsibilities, even if you are broke.
You are a breath of fresh air, Angie! For those of us who sometimes or often feel overwhelmed and physically/emotionally drained by our profession, you provide wonderful advice, useful strategies, and most of all HOPE..That with some deliberate mindfulness and personal comittment to ourselves, we can change our way of thinking. By doing so, we can greatly reduce our overall level of stress and increase our work productivity, all while having a healthy balance in our lives! I want to sincerely thank you for caring so much and reaching out to so many SLPs who work with different populations in a variety of settings. It really doesn’t matter who you are, where or in what capacity you work, BURNOUT does NOT have to happen to you! I am sending you much love and sincere appreciation, Angie!!! Keep on doing what you do best! Your website is absolutely awesome! XOXO.
Carla, Thank YOU so much. I’m a better life coach than slp, but hey you can’t be perfect at everything. I’ve definitely learned to set boundaries that have in turn affected me to a point where I love it. I think this is important work that should be a “given” as part of our training. Along with most professions, it’s not. Thank you for your kind words and encouragement. Thank you for helping me grow and spread the word. We need this.