Breaking Down Overwhelm through Written Organization: A Writing Therapy Realization

Writing things down has so many life-saving capabilities. It really does. Now, I might be using this opening statement in more of a dramatic setting than is called for. But, I have seen, first-hand, how writing therapy (and writing in general) has a way of organizing life so its complexities are easier to manage.

I can go into ALL the many ways that writing has been life-impacting for me. But, I don’t think I’ll attempt that today, and I have a feeling you wouldn’t want me to either. (You’d be here awhile.) So, I’m just going to hone in on a particular strategy that I’ve recently been using heavily to break down the overwhelm in life. Mainly, because I ABSOLUTELY HAD TO!

Funny how some of us have a tendency to be less proactive in using tools to make life easier and stay easier, but have the being reactive to adversity with swift action when forced to down pat.

Anyway, I’ve had access to this particular tool for many months now, but I haven’t been consistent in using it. Therefore, I haven’t been able to benefit from its life-enhancing properties.

I’m talking about my GoGirl Planner. Actually, the perfect planner for me, given to me by my sweetheart of a daughter, in my favorite color, sitting in my house untouched for many months, but still able to perform its purpose those many months later.

I love it because it’s not a dated calendar. And although I would start using it, then stop using it, and repeat that cycle over and over again, I could easily pick it back up when I was ready to give it some attention again (since it wasn’t time-sensitive). Which is where I am right now.

And let me assure you that THIS IS NOT a marketing campaign for this particular planner. I genuinely LOVE THE THING. So, I’m talking about it. In fact, it’s saving my hide right about now.

You have no idea and I’m not going into it in this blog post or any others, but I have SO MANY competing priorities right now that my head has been spinning trying to comprehend how I’m going to successfully accomplish them all thoroughly and in a timely manner.

The competing priorities stem from some of my own stuff but also come from a lot of other folks’ stuff, as well. (In fact, others’ busyness can create busyness in your own life.) Bet you knew that already. But, do you know it by personal experience?

Personally-speaking, I’m not one to let the overwhelm take me down, because I’m SO incredibly thankful that I can help take some of the work off of others. But that work doesn’t magically disappear. It has to go somewhere; and sometimes, it may land on YOU.

And if you’ve had this experience, then you need some reinforcements to come to your rescue. You can’t do it all. You need some help. So . . .

You have to find constructive and productive ways to break down the overwhelm that can easily take over your life if you let it . . . if you don’t healthily manage it.

And while a “planner” doesn’t do the actual work for me or you, it will take some pressure off the brain in trying to remember EVERYTHING and in trying to keep EVERYTHING straight on the what, where when, why, how, and who.

Therefore, I’ve been religiously using my GoGirl Planner since the beginning of this month to keep my daily priorities (necessary to-dos) in the forefront while tracking my progress on them as I go throughout the day. Because the struggle is real, folks.

And not only does my planner include the regular calendar layout, but it gives you areas to write down your week’s priorities, track your progress and habits, make to-do lists, and write down important notes (using my mind mapping pages for note-taking).

Planners . . . calendars . . . trackers ARE SO GOOD for managing the overwhelm. I LOVE THEM! And to think: I’ve had access to them all along and have pretty much chosen to have an on-again and off-again relationship with them for waaaayyyy too long.

Why?

Have the beneficial properties of these organizational tools changed? No! Well, were they hard to come by before and now it’s easier to access them? No!

So, is there some reason that something like a planner may become more important TODAY than it’s ever been before? Well, in my experience, YES!

Because I’m desperate for some help, so I’m going to get it where I can receive it. I’m using my planner to break down the overwhelm in my day, because there’s no humanly possible way for me to keep up with everything that’s going on in my day-to-day without writing it down.

A total writing therapy (as well as a productivity) hack if I’ve ever seen one! Seriously. You may not see it that way. But just try juggling your schedule, the schedules of multiple folks who live inside your house, and the schedules of multiple folks who live outside of your house.

And then, let me know how the juggling goes without you writing down those “must do” priorities in some tracking system to make sure nothing falls in between the cracks and gets forgotten, ends up mismanaged, or finds itself competing for a completion time and due date already assigned to another.

When the juggling of overwhelm is left up to the old memory to remember, filter through, and assign to its appropriate course of action timeline, there WILL BE a breakdown in execution. Guaranteed!

Again, it’s because we’re human and can’t manage all that action-required intel just banging around up in the noggin’ without some systematic way to organize it all and come up with plans of action to accomplish it. That’s why I’m leaving this organizational management up to my planner to facilitate.

Did I already say how much I LOVE PLANNERS?!!

Really, I just wanted to share a tool that has come to be a real game-changer when it comes to breaking down the overwhelm. For me, anyway. And consequently, it’s taken on a role that has allowed me to have some confidence in knowing that the busyness of my weekly schedule is being effectively captured in one organized place for safe-keeping and managing.

It took me a minute to remind myself of just how therapeutic it can be to consistently plan out one’s day and week in a planner by WRITING THINGS DOWN in an organized repository. But, better to shake myself out of my stupor later rather than never. And if you haven’t tried using a planner for your overwhelm, you should give it a go, especially if your current method of planning and organizing your day isn’t producing the results you need in GETTING THINGS DONE.