#90

This is Whisper #90

 

What if you could feel underwhelmed about the overwhelm?

Stay with me here. Our lives feel like they're moving at 1000km/h and it would feel easy to buy into the idea that we have to pay attention to it all. We’re bombarded day and night with all sorts of mental, physical, and emotional attention grabbers and it seems tough to keep up.

But, only if we buy into the idea that we have to keep up. Yes, I know that lots of those things are important. I’m wondering though whether ‘those things’ are equally weighted? Do all of ‘those things’ that we’re overwhelmed with carry equal importance for us? If you reflect on that question you’d probably find they don’t carry equal importance.

So, what if instead of feeling overwhelmed with all the things you metaphorically laughed in their face:

“Is that your best?”

“Is that all you’ve got to try and take me off track?”

“I see that you’re trying to distract me here with the volume of things but I see through you and not all of those things are important to me”

Perhaps being underwhelmed with the volume will allow us to pay attention to ‘those things’ that are really important to us.

 
Use the difficulty

If you still feel overwhelmed then perhaps take some counsel from Michael Caine.

This has been doing the internet rounds recently and it’s highly relevant to coping with overwhelm. Caine shares a life lesson he learnt early on in his acting career that has helped him cope with various stages of overwhelm and difficulty throughout his life.

YouTube: Michael Caine - Use The Difficulty

 
Question of the week:
Instead of over or under - what if you were just whelmed?

The dictionary definition of whelmed is to be engulfed, submerged, or buried but is often used synonymously with overwhelmed.

What would it feel like to be whelmed – engulfed, submerged, buried – with happiness? Or meaningful relationships? Or progress? Or acceptance? Or anything else that was important to you.

Imagine being engulfed, submerged or buried in all the positive stuff – what would that feel like? Imagine investing time in activities that revealed the best of you not the stress in you? Now that would be a mindset shift 😊

Quote of the week:
“You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step" - Martin Luther King Jr.

The staircase could be going up or down the advice is still the same. Just take a step – pause, breath, take stock, then step again… just before you’re ready.

Freedom Fridays Podcast Episode #68

This week Pete chats to a long-time colleague, author, and fellow Ironman – Jim Steele. They dive deep into Jim’s latest book Unashamedly Superhuman exploring the possible balance between performance and well-being. Often perceived to be polar opposites Jim explains how certain aspects of our well-being can support high performance and vice versa.

In Jim’s words, the book moves the reader ‘beyond strapline to strategy’ and shares some simple performance and well-being hacks that might surprise you. If you’ve ever been interested in getting into ‘flow’ by design and not by accident there’s plenty to take from the conversation.

       

           

That's it for Weekly Whisper #90. As always, please send any feedback to pete@21whispers.com.

Cheers

Pete