I've been feeling overwhelmed lately, particularly as a juggle the return to work with small person with uni with life. The juggle itself isn't so bad, it's more the feeling that I'm peddling hard and not feeling as though I'm getting anywhere. I'm guessing this is a common enough feeling in today's day and age - the lingering, yearning feeling that you've never done quite enough, that there are milestones and things to achieve that remain ever out of reach and elusive. How to combat this feeling? Do we meditate diligently and tell ourselves that we are 'enough'? Do we organise more efficiently, ensuring that we've allocated enough time to each area of our life? I must confess, I'm bad at this in the sense that I'm not a great prioritiser. From way back, pre baby, I relentlessly took on everything - social engagements, projects, things around the house, work stuff, responsibilities. Every fucking thing. In previous times in my life, I've had more time to spare and so I could fit all the 'stuff' in - albeit uncomfortably - to avoid having to really sit with myself too often.
And the thing is, I still have this inclination (to take on everything) but less time in general. And instead of saying no, or de-prioritising, I'm just spending a lot of time over engaging with every little thing that pops up.
I have no magic ideas as to how to combat this. I know that there are some obvious first ports of call - define my values, say no more often - but I can't help but feel that it goes deeper than that, to a sense of needing to be overly engaged in the world to make sure that I'm 'okay'.
