[AKN #102] How To Stop Feeling Overwhelmed
LAUGH: Crow Shredding Gnar On A Jar Lid, LOVE: Incredible Display Of Fireworks
Sup homies?
Have you ever found yourself out on the town with some friends when you are suddenly overcome with an intense hunger?
This happens to me often because I am a bottomless pit.
A hunger comes on suddenly.
My mood deteriorates rapidly.
I quickly devolve into the worst version of myself.
This is hangry.
Over the years, I’ve come to learn that whenever this hunger comes on, I have two options:
Don’t eat and get into a petty beef with my friends
Get into that roast beef and continue having a lovely time
So very often, I find myself eating an emergency sandwich.
50cc’s of oven roasted Turkey breast ingested straight into my blood stream cures my hanger and I can move on with my life.
During one of my last visits to the emergency sandwich store, I found the entire experience quite overwhelming which lead to me investigating the subject of overwhelm.
So I’m going to talk about that now.
On to the newsletter!
LIVE: How To Stop Feeling Overwhelmed
“Would you like provolone or American on that?”
I stared blankly at the cashier.
I wasn’t ready for that question because I was distracted by this tan older white lady in the store. Her skin had this “I’ve spent decades of my life in the sun”, loose, leathery aesthetic and I couldn’t stop looking. It looked like a burlap sack or a deflated football. But most distracting of all was the combination of her skin and the red tank top she was wearing. It gave the appearance that she was wearing a tan and red baggy long sleeve. Gross.
My internal monologue starts going.
“Focus, Kevin. It already took you long enough to select the California Club off of the menu. You’re embarrassing yourself in front of the entire Which Wich? community.”
So I rifled through my vast repository of cheese based memories and visualized the best I could what would pair best with turkey and avocado.
“American.” I say with absolutely zero confidence I made the right choice. But I was at peace with my decision.
Now I could get back to more important things like looking at this lady’s skin. Seriously. I couldn’t get over the color of it. Like if Crayola were to make a crayon to commemorate her skin tone they would just call it Cancer.
I visualized the Crayola line of skin colors: Tickle Me Pink, Burnt Sienna, Outrageous Orange, and Stage 4.
“What kind of vegetables do you want on that?”
God dammit. Again I froze. Overwhelmed by the whole situation.
My internal monologue comes back on.
“Why am I so overwhelmed by such a straight forward task? I wish someone could just do this for me…oh. Shit. Wait.”
“I will have whatever typically comes on it.” I said.
One of those situations where the solution was much simpler than I was making it out to be. I just had to appeal to the sandwich architect and bam, maximal enjoyment out of my emergency sandwich.
As I basked in my post sandwich bliss, I thought about how this whole experience was a good lesson in understanding and overcoming overwhelm.
Why was I overwhelmed ordering a sandwich?
Because I didn’t know what to do next.
How did I solve it?
I asked someone for help.
Conquering Overwhelm
When I am overwhelmed, it can feel very…overwhelming.
I step into a sandwich shop without a plan and I find myself overwhelmed by choice.
I sit around ruminating about what career I want to pursue and I find myself overwhelmed by where to even start.
I decide I want to get in shape so I go to the gym, but I find myself overwhelmed by what type of routine to even start with.
My mind’s natural reaction to overwhelm is to shut down. Freeze. Hesitate. Maybe even try to muster some will power to get myself unstuck.
But it ends up there is a much easier way to get through it than white knuckling it through overwhelm.
In each case, the reason I feel overwhelmed is the same: I do not know what to do next.
So if I can simply identify when it is happening, I can consciously make the decision to ask someone for help.
Don’t know what sandwich I want?
Ask the cashier for recommendations.
Don’t know what I want to do with my career?
Talk to someone who has a job I like about where to start.
Don’t know how to get in shape at the gym?
Get a trainer.
Getting through overwhelm really is as simple as asking for help.
I just have to ask and then listen to the answer.
Then I can go back to doing the things which only I can do.
Like looking at this lady’s skin. Jesus Christ. She's eating a roast beef sandwich on wheat bread and I can't tell where her hands end and the sandwich begins…
LAUGH: Crow Shredding Gnar On A Jar Lid
Here is a video you didn’t know you needed to see.
LOVE: Incredible Display Of Fireworks
In case you didn’t get to see a good show of fireworks this year for the Fourth of July, here is a 30 second video which will make up for that.
CLOSING TIME
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Disclaimer: Opinions expressed are strictly my own. Who else’s would they be?
Underwhelmingly Yours,
K.Rapp
Legitimately just laughed hard at the crayola color
and this is why I always get the same type of sandwich whether I go to Subway or Jimmy JOhn's or Jersey mikes. I get too overwhelmed otherwise. There's a time to be challenges and a time when I love being in my comfort zone