Feeling overwhelmed? Congratulations! You’re a modern human. Not even AI is going to change that. Ha! Mow the lawn. Stack the firewood. Clean the dishes. Collect trash to take to the dump. Maybe go for a walk. Take a shower. (Not necessarily in that order.) And wait, or don’t wait. There’s more! Oh yeah, and figure out those taxes, which may mean balancing that checkbook, pay those bills, realize you need to look for a job or move or both, et al.

There must be a way to make a way through it all before that et al gets to you.

Ads rarely tell you to do less or spend less. Even when they encourage you to worry less, it usually involves doing more to pay for and arrange that vacation.

Life before electronics was busy. That’s why labor-saving devices are popular. By now, it should be possible to live while doing nothing. Score!

Ah, but more free time means you should Should on yourself. The doctor has a list of shoulds, so does the dentist. Add the government, however you find an income, your neighbors, your house, your transportation, ad nauseam. Emphasis on the nauseam.

Add the couldas. Instead of this Should, I Could do that.

Get old enough and compile a list of Wouldas. If only I’d known I woulda done…

Recently, my perpetual overwhelm entered a phase of several Shoulds arriving at the same time. At least four near-term writing projects. Spring cleaning has a deadline this year (for reasons I can’t reveal yet.) Applying for jobs. Starting new projects (in case the others don’t produce something positive soon after several years of trying.) I’m not going to list them all because the specifics of my list aren’t as important as the reality that overwhelm is happening everywhere.

And then, there’s the changes AI is going to create that may be best to be aware of before they happen. Even if they don’t mow the lawn, AIs are changing the world.

My overwhelm reached a critical point earlier this week. Thanks to my study of karate and some spiritual practices, I’ve developed coping strategies. They don’t make the storms go away, but they make it easier to ride through them. But every tool and technique has its weaknesses. Someone accidentally found mine and hammered it hard. I became less than cool. (#MassiveUnderstatement)

I’m sure you’ve experienced something similar: three compliments in five sentences followed by twenty minutes listing what I Shoulda done, Coulda done, and what they Woulda done. And I don’t think they even realized they were doing it because they were in the midst of their overwhelming situation.
Step back, at least metaphorically. Breathe, really. Decide if any of it is a life emergency.

Don’t block the fist that wasn’t a punch.

Sometimes, do nothing and nothing remains undone – because the need may go away.

Don’t react unless there’s a reason and a benefit to do so.

For me, much of my overwhelm traces back to My Triple Whammy, a dramatic assault on my net worth that I continue to recover from. It is unfashionable to say that a lack of money is the source of a person’s troubles; but I know enough impressive people in financial difficulty to realize that such fashionable thoughts are insensitive luxuries. Money does matter. My stress level correlates with it.

At the same time this episode of overwhelm hit, I am watching and waiting for financial news (see, I brought it back around to personal finance) as most of my stocks are due to release good news in 2023, oops, 2024. As usual, I am also applying for jobs; and some of the recent ones look good.

Overwhelm on overwhelm while change is changing.

Step back. Breathe. And do what can be done with what’s available. I was stymied about what to do next. For a few minutes, I stood there trying to decide which to-do item was most important. The priorities change with each change. Keeping track adds to the overwhelm.

Step back. Breathe. Look around. Beside me was something that was sitting there, waiting to become a part of a solution, or a piece destined for the dump. Dump, because even though I should solve that one problem, I could if things were different.

Breathe. Most things take time and good luck. Gardeners know that. Entrepreneurs do, too; they can be impatient, but customers can’t be forced. Advocates know that, too. The cause is just; the cause is now; but the crowd may take a while to show up.

Work with the energies that are there. Add yours, but don’t force others. Aggression reveals weaknesses.

So, I sit here, waiting for financial news that I can’t control, as AI changes the world in ways I can’t control, as my taxes are in the control of a professional, and other professionals are working on other projects. Now, I’m typing this. Before that, I got dinner in the oven. Before that, I mowed the lawn and stacked some firewood. And before that,… And before that,… And before that,… I worked on other things I can control. Shoulds make the top of the list, but sometimes, to relieve the overwhelm, I step back, breathe, look at what’s around me, and maybe do what I can with what I got, and ignore the shouts of everyone else’s Shoulds.