This is the first of a 3 part series on overcoming overwhelm at home.

Do you ever feel overwhelmed?

That’s a silly question, right?! EVERYONE feels overwhelmed at times. While it would be great if we could implement something that completely eliminates overwhelm from ever happening again, I don’t think that’s realistic. Do you? Life throws us curveballs, unexpected things. We can even be overwhelmed with normal daily life of running a household, working, trying to simply do all the things. The twists and turns life can take will present us with things we’ve never dealt with before. Like an opportunity at school for your kids that you didn’t know existed. In our school the kids can start playing volleyball in 4th grade! I had no idea that there was an opportunity for my oldest to play spring volleyball in 4th grade! Let alone realize that it’s not an opportunity that the school provides, but instead the volleyball booster club. That whole situation back in the day made me feel stupid because I didn’t know how it all worked and it felt like everyone else did. That made normal daily life feel overwhelming! That one seemingly little thing made me feel overwhelmed.

Then there’s the unexpected things that happen. A few weeks ago my husband wasn’t feeling well, like really not feeling well. We went to the ER late at night of course. That threw us into a surgery and a short stay in the hospital. How do we dig out of that?! Right?! That resulted in days of running from home to the hospital, back home to pick up kids, to go to their events, then back to the hospital… you get the picture, right? It was a lot. And all the normal things that would have been getting done were not getting done. It was the bare minimum. I wasn’t cooking, I wasn’t cleaning, nothing. I hate to say it, but I wasn’t even showering!

All is fine with my husband. But it’s a great example of how life throws us curveballs. 

We WILL be overwhelmed from time to time. It is inevitable. 

As someone who is or feels like they’re just starting their home organizing journey you want to be set up for lasting home organizing solutions, right?  In order to make that happen you’ll have to do something different than you’ve done before or what society tells us.

Instead of allowing overwhelm to rule your life and make you feel anxious and frustrated, you can start with a brain dump to get yourself moving in the right direction and to squash the overwhelmed feeling. In this episode I’ll share with you what a brain dump is, why it works and how to do one.

WHAT IS A BRAIN DUMP

The first step in combating overwhelm is to get all the thoughts, ideas, to-do’s out of your mind. You have all this stuff swirling around in your mind. A while ago as you noticed that the windows are filthy and you thought, the windows really need to be cleaned inside and out. But how? Who? When? The other day you discovered a sign up form in a pile of papers your kid deposited on the kitchen counter but you don’t have time to fill it out. All the stuff you just know needs to be done. It’s all stuck in your head which results in overwhelm. You don’t know where to start, you know there are tons of things that you need to do or get help doing. The key is to have a solution that will work anytime you feel this way. That solution is a brain dump. It’s exactly what it sounds like you are dumping all of the things out of your head. Use pen and paper or type it up on your computer or phone. You have to get it all out of your mind in order to make any progress. Right now it doesn’t matter what tool you use. We’ll get into that in week 3 of this series. We’ll talk about your capture system, what you can depend on when you do a brain dump. 

WHY A BRAIN DUMP WORKS

I’m not sure if you’re like me, but initially I’d kind of scoffed at this idea of a brain dump because before kids I had no problem remembering everything I had to do. I expected myself to still be able to do this. I realize now that my thought process was kind of absurd because with kids there are literally 30,000 more things to do every single day. Being responsible for other people is a BIG job! When you have so much in your head that you’re trying to remember and get done, you’re focus in disjointed. It’s scattered. You really aren’t mentally capable of having focus because there is just too much crammed in your brain. I remember being frustrated that everything seemed to be so organized at my job, but at home it was all a mess. This was the difference, I had everything typed up at work, what had to be done, when it needed to be done, who was going to do it. But at home none of that existed. So, again. It all starts with getting all the things out of your mind. Know that this is not a one time thing. This is what needs to happen every single time you feel overwhelmed. You can depend on it. Does this make sense? A brain dump makes room in your mind to figure it all out. What needs to be done, when and how it can happen.

HOW TO DO A BRAIN DUMP

Let’s get into the steps you need to take to make it happen.

1. Decide if you want to use pen and paper or type it up. There’s no wrong method to use.
2. Start writing. Everything that comes to your mind. Don’t worry about the order. Just write or type. The goal is to get it all out of your head.
3. Write/type until you can’t think of anything else. 
4. Keep the list you're making handy so that as you think of more things, because you will, you can add to the list.

That’s it! This is the first step to overcoming the overwhelm at home. In next week’s episode I’ll share what the next step is, prioritizing. I’ll share the best way to prioritize and what to consider when you’re doing so.

But if you’re feeling like you need extra help right now. It’s an urgent situation. Please go to www.homeorganizingforbeginners.com and click the ask me anything link. This allows you to ask me any question you have about home organizing, including overcoming overwhelm. I’ll get back to you with a solution that you can utilize right away.

Join me again next week to continue learning how to overcome overwhelm at home.

Thanks so much and have a great day!

Your Home Organizing Educator,
Tammy