Here we are, three weeks in to January already, and if you are anything like some of the people I’ve been observing (yes, Mirror Mirror: me too) then you might feel like you ‘should’ have done more with the start of the year. Whatever new beginning you thought 2021 would bring may or may not have magically happened. 

This month our oil is Arborvitae, and we have been banging on about ‘handing it over to the divine’, but there’s a paradox (isn’t there always?) and that is that we also need to be specific on what we are handing over. What are we asking for help with? If we send mixed messages, then we will get mixed outcomes. Which is fine if you are happy to “get what you get” but if you want a life that screams YOU, then the divine would probably like a little clarity. 

Which leads us to a familiar place. The one where we most likely want to hand it all over: Overwhelm Town. That place we look at all of those bright and shiny ideas we had at the end of the year and find that they all feel a bit much. Or we have kids on holidays so we are torn between doing the things and being with them. Added to that could be the bills that keep on coming in, where we wonder at the excesses of Christmas and wonder how we will catch up. 

Kelly Exeter in her book Practical Perfection tells us that Overwhelm happens when we have passions (all the fab things we dream of doing) and productivity (running about, busy, busy) but we haven’t prioritised. So we have this list of things we would love, need and want to do, and we are playing brain Tetris, trying to fit it ALL in. So the very first path out of Overwhelm Town is to figure out the order. What is the next most important thing to do?

Now here’s the lightbulb moment: Overwhelm is an emotion. It’s a state we allow ourselves to get into when we either don’t know, or haven’t taken the time to decide what comes next. As Shawn in BDC says, “What is the next logical step?” Which is fine when we have a clear idea on where we are going. But what if 2021 has already squirrel-punched you, and you don’t even know?

Al was on a great seminar today (Time Matters by BDC) and one of the participants made this suggestion: “If you could only do ONE THING today, what would it be, and why?”

The juice is in the WHY.

So that’s it. The recipe for getting Over the Whelm.

Your task this week is to start every day with this simple question. (Pro tip: write it down. Then your RAS and the divine will have even MORE fun getting it to you). For bonus points, reflect on the question, and the answers that come to you during the day. 

Divine Grace.  It’s your’s for the taking, chicks. Go get yours.