Start Small
This isn't groundbreaking advice: when you're feeling overwhelmed, start small.
This morning I felt overwhelmed. It wasn't because I had too much work to do or had a lot of information overloading me, I just had that feeling of being overwhelmed. There was no rhyme or reason for it, just something that happens to me from time to time.
So I started small: I wrote out a to-do list of things I needed to accomplish for work. My head wasn't in a productive space to get work done, and I didn't know where to start. Focusing and writing out a to-do list - just that act itself - helped narrow my focus and figure out where to start.
After that, it was a matter of completing just one item on the to-do list. None of the items were any more important than the other, the only difference between them is the amount of time required to complete them. There are probably competing schools of thought for what to tackle first, but I picked what I would call a "medium" task.
Once that was done I quickly moved on to an "easy" task, one that didn't take much effort or time. Suddenly I had two of five items done! Fast forward to right now, as I type this, I have two things left. They're both a little bit time consuming, but that's okay since I need to make sure I fill my afternoon.
If I feel I need to write anything else I think I'll stick to my journal. I'd love to do some music writing today (I've written a couple different short posts on Mastodon) but I don't think I can devote that kind of time and attention today.
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Or if you prefer, find me on Mastodon. And there's also Bluesky!