31) Overwhelmed & Underwhelmed

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hat do you do when you have to do so much, you don't even know where to start?

What do you do when a 40-hour DAY isn't enough?  What do you do when everything takes 2.8 times longer than you think it will?  (In the 1970s, someone developed a statistic saying so.  And, I think the stat is subject to Schwartz's Corollary to Murphy's Law.  Murphy's Law states that anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.  Schwartz’s Corollary states that Murphy was an optimist.)

            This is when anxiety starts, depression develops, and you end up just giving up.

            This is a bad path.  Life moves forward, not backward.  This is when you get to a fork a in the road, one way leading to a cliff (suicide?), the other, to a cave entrance with no light at the end of the tunnel.  You must make a choice or sit by the edge of the road.  Making no choice is still a choice.  You must put one foot in front of the other and walk.  Do you know how to eat an elephant?  One bite at a time.

            According to W. Clement Stone, developing a positive mental attitude will help.  Having faith may help.  Faith in yourself, in the universe, or something else.

  None of this is easy, and it must be built incrementally and consistently.  This is where meditation, prayer, and other spiritual tools become important.  That, in addition to friends, sunlight, a shower, getting out of bed, getting out of the house.  Less sugar & caffeine, more exercise to pump endorphins.  Socializing, watching comedy, singing & listening to music.  Reading the right books, watching healthier TV programs.  Many little, healthy things for your spirit,  rather than one big cure.  Pace, balance, be, do.  Space abhors a vacuum, so your head and heart will be filled with something.  This is where you must find a way to clean out the stale parts of your being and fill the space with new, healthy, nourishing thoughts.  GIGO: Garbage In; Garbage Out.  Put good food in.

            What do you do when everyone who's supposed to supply a product or service to you, does so poorly or not at all?  Do you scream?  Cry?  Yell?  Write letters?  Threaten?  Commit crimes?

            The world is stressed.  Are the Four Horseman saddled up and riding to December 21?

            Is the enemy you know, better than one you don't?  Do you forgive?  Do you take your business elsewhere?

            I don't have the answers.  We all walk our own path.  It gets lonelier for many every day.  The developed world population moves more and more to being single rather than married or coupled.  We don’t seem to have enough money, security, safety, happiness, fulfillment, love.

            On the one hand, we're overwhelmed by technology, work, chores, family, responsibilities, time, life.  On the other, we're underwhelmed with the hand we've been dealt.  The rich get richer, the poor get poorer - and no one's happy.

            The money doesn't make the difference.  That’s not how to measure wealth.  It's going be what goes on in your head, not your circumstances.  There are life coaches, therapists, psychopharmacologists, and all sorts of other professionals to try to help.  Nevertheless, the quest continues.

            Maybe it isn't about the destination, but the long, strange trip.  And when you're traveling, it helps to know whom you are, where you've come from, and some idea of where you think you're going.

            In financial planning terms, this is financial analysis of what you own and owe (i.e. Balance Sheet/Net Worth Statement), what your cash flow is (i.e. what money comes in & out - and when), what your values are, and what your goals are.  Your goals cannot conflict you’re your values or your values win (e.g. wanting to make more money, but then having less time w/family, wanting to climb a corporate ladder but refusing to step on toes).  From there you can make a plan for food, clothing & shelter.  And when that's tended, you can look at the rest of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs.

            Life's a struggle.  A struggle to be born, a struggle to survive, a struggle to grow, a struggle to live.  Giving up is easy.

            Napolean Hill said our strongest drive is to procreate.  It could all end right there, like the male bee.  But he also said, “What the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve”. Having a developed brain might you not want to use it?  On the other hand, just having a brane doesn't  obligate you to use it.

            Body-mind, and spirit; it’s an equilateral triangle.  Treat all of the sides - and don’t try to jam the square pegs in the round holes.

              What are your dreams?  What are your values?  What's your plan?