Because A Meltdown Wouldn’t Be Sexy

My morning exploded. I felt like I was doing breaststrokes at 50 MPH and yet I felt like I hadn’t moved an inch. In the moment, I felt overwhelmed. I thought about all my to do list. There are a lot. There’s my professional to do list. My personal to do list. My personal professional to do list. And lastly, my theater to do list. I just keep adding things to each list but I found I wasn’t crossing any thing off.

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“This is too much stuff!” I thought as I wrote it all down, “And now I just don’t feel good!”

I knew after organizing and prioritizing my list, it would be better.

I knew after delegating, leveraging or outsourcing, it would be better.

I knew after Eating the Frog, it would be better.

I knew after various techniques, it would be better.

But for about five minutes, I couldn’t grab any thought in my mind.

So what did I do, in the moment?

Having a melt down or throwing a tantrum wasn’t an option.

I put on my “Three Poms in a Pod” hat, turned on my iPod to random, walked away from my desk and went to Starbucks for a Chai Tee. Fifteen minutes later, I was back at my desk with a renewed sense of focus. I was no longer “overwhelmed”. I was good to go.

Why did this method work for me?

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The hat makes me feel good. I like the color. I like how it falls on my head. I like how it looks on my head. I feel cute and warm and artistic wearing it. (It’s like that old trick of wearing your best dress to a test, even if you know you might fail. Or its like the method of dressing for the professional position that you want and not the one you currently have…if you’re looking to move up.) Clothes effect physicality and psychology. They affect the way you move. I could go on. I knew wearing my hat…would literally change my mind.

Music plays with my emotions. Putting my ipod on random meant I wouldn’t stay in any emotion for too long. Having a random flow meant I couldn’t get out of the “stuck” feeling and move from happy song to sad song to emo song to indie rock song to broadway number. Having the music play with my emotions kept me from being stuck in one.

Walking away from my desk got me away from it all whether it was for five minutes, five hours or five days. Sometimes the best thing to do is …. something else… before you can get back to the doing. (Does that make sense?)

Going to starbucks and getting chai tea…. well, I like their chai tea. It’s tasty and warm drinks comfort me. And Chai reminds me of the fall, which is my favorite season. The physicality of drinking something that affects my psychology helped ease a growing sense of tension in my mind and body.

Hat. Music. Chai Tea.

I was starting to get overwhelmed and before it grew out of control and before I employed methods to getting it all down… I needed a quick relief to help my psyche.

Hat. Music. Chai Tea.

What soothes your agitation before it grows and before you employ your methodology of completing task?

SLY ARTICLES OF NOTE

Managing Stress in Multi-Task Project Work

Frog Legs Don’t Taste Like Chicken

Maintaining Emotional Balance

To Do or To Be

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