Goal-Setting for the Overwhelmed
Hi friends.
I don’t have any profound existential or spiritual thoughts this month so I’m going practical.
Overwhelm that resulted in freezing up and shutting down was my modus operandi for the last 9 months- it was normal to have no idea what needed to be done or how I would do it, and things were kind of a trainwreck around here for a while.
As my nervous system has gained back some resiliency and my executive functioning has started coming back online, I’ve been experiencing a new kind of overwhelm: now I know what I need to do, but I don’t know how to get it done.
(According to multiple online quizzes which are *of course* extremely reliable, I most likely have ADHD. I’m not interested in taking meds and believe that continuing to heal my nervous system will help this improve so I haven’t pursued a diagnosis, but the possibility explains a lot of why I’m driving myself a little crazy right now.)
I’ve tried many programs and techniques in the past to keep up on personal goals and habits, housekeeping needs, and the like, but they didn’t really work for me. For most of them, I quit after a week because I couldn’t succeed and fell so far behind.
My goal this month has been to reevaluate what actually needs doing, and then find a simple way to help myself actually do the things.
My current on-waking routine is:
read my Bible and pray (30 minutes max total)
do 10 minutes of movement before breakfast
That’s it. Take it from me when I say it’s much more sustainable to keep the goals minimal and to regularly achieve them than it is to have extensive and intricate goals and drown on the first day!
If you’re looking at my current short list and wondering how it’s possible, then maybe starting with doing one thing consistently when you wake up every day would be your goal. Once that’s a habit, add on something else. Being consistent is the key, and keeping it simple and achievable breeds consistency.
Home management, in my somewhat minimal experience, is the same. There’s a thousand million people on Instagram claiming to have the best cleaning and organizing system in the world, and for them it probably is! But my brain is unique to me so I need a system that works with it and for me, not one I have to fight the whole way.
My point is, if you’re constantly tripping over something and want to throw in the towel and say you’re not good at it or it’s too hard so oh well, maybe you just need to revamp (or create) your system in a way that actually works for you and helps you to be successful.
We got this!
-Moriah
Incase your brain works like mine, here’s the checklists I made that are working really well for me in this season:
Cleaning Checklist- As long as everything gets checked off each week, it’s a success in my book. The flexibility to do a few things here and there works much better for me than the rigid schedules like “monday is bathroom cleaning day” that I’ve tried in the past. An added benefit is having a paper chart in an accessible place means other people in the house can see clearly what still needs to be done in a given week.
Daily Habit Tracker- I had been using a habit tracker app, but Abbey Wedgeworth shared that she uses a paper version recently to limit her phone use, and since my paper cleaning chart is working so well for me, I decided to try paper for my personal habits and goals too. It’s going way better.
I’m listening to…
Binaural beats continue to work so well for me for anxiety and overwhelm. It’s like plugging into a charger and recharging while still going about my day.
I’m reading…
→ I’m not loving anything I’ve tried reading lately… I enjoy clean, well-written fluff about daily life (like Jan Karon or Elisabeth Olgilvie), or really good biographies that aren’t super dry or violent. I especially love missionary stories. I do not like fantasy of SciFi. Send me your suggestions!
I’m loving…
I’ve been floundering in “Bible time” a little. I’ve tried several studies and plans but ended up feeling like a slave to the plan (I guess that’s the theme of this months email haha). These two tools have helped me create a structure that works well for me, and I’ve been a lot more consistent than when I was just checking off the next section of whatever resource I was following.
→ Abbey Wedgeworth’s 3-5 Minute Bible Study Method
→ VMP’s 30 Minute Prayer Guide
I’m cooking…
Sometimes I do get tired of the daily grind of churning out meals, but I’m realizing more and more that cooking is a creative outlet for me. I love freestyling dinners with what we have that needs to be used (we call them “waste not want not dinners”), and sometimes they turn into concepts I end up using often.
While cooking might come naturally to some people, I really think that like most things, anyone can do it if they practice and try. I’m thinking about creating a PDF resource that might help people who think they can only cook following a strict recipe become more comfortable with being creative in the kitchen and trying things. What do we think?
→ Sausage Arugula White Pizza
2 of your favorite pizza crusts (Ugly’s is a good GF one, or I made my own sourdough crust)
4 heads of garlic, crushed + 4-6 Tablespoons Olive Oil mixed together
Sautéed breakfast or sweet italian sausage (1lb) + thin sliced onion
Sliced fresh tomatoes
Sliced fresh Mozzarella
Arugula
Balsamic Reduction (simmer 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar until it thickens a little, but watch closely because it goes from thick to burnt quickly… ask me how I know…)
Spread the oil and garlic mixture on the crusts, then top with tomatoes, sausage + onions and mozzarella. Bake at 425’F for 10-15 minutes to desired melty-ness. Remove from oven and top with arugula and drizzle the balsamic over the top.