When you feel overwhelmed…do ONE thing!

It is easy to set goals.

It is easy to picture where you want to be in six months or a year.

Saying “I am going to get fit and healthy” is a simple easy thing to do.

ACTUALLY getting there is NOT!

So, when you feel overwhelmed; when the number on the scale seems stuck; when you’re down, blue, not motivated and everything seems impossible…

Do ONE Thing…

Just one.  One POSITIVE thing.

It doesn’t matter what “thing” you do.  Bend over a pick up a sock and put it in the hamper.

Look at that unmade bed and straighten out the pillows.  Or pull the comforter or bedspread out flat to cover the mess.

Wash your face.

Empty the wastebasket in your office, bedroom, or bathroom.

Feed the kitty a few treats.  (And no, you can’t have any of the treats!)

Because when you do ONE Thing…

Doing the SECOND thing is easier…

I am not a neat person.

After 53 years of life, I accept that, even though I actually a “place for everything” — “everything” will NEVER be in its place.

At least not all at the same time.

My life is filled with clutter.  My outward living space often reflects my inner thoughts where I bound from one thing to another to another to another, leaving a trail of creative chaos in my wake.

Some would argue that the chaos is not so creative; don’t listen to them.

Few would deny, however, that it is entertaining!

Squirrel!

Therefore, my “One Thing” often is something to do with cleaning…

Given that my home is usually a mess, for me, the “one thing” is usually a bit of neatening or straightening or cleaning.

Everyone is different.  Your “one thing” might be putting on a piece of music.  Or entering ONE check into your check register.  Or it might be filling up your 7-day pill organizer with this week’s medications.

Or…taking the dog for a walk.

Or…mailing a birthday card to a loved one.

Or…adding an item to the “shopping list” on the refrigerator door.  Or…

It doesn’t really matter WHAT you do as long as you do SOMETHING!

It has got to be a “positive” thing.  Take a step. Any Step.  It is that first step that is the most important one.  And it does NOT have to be a big step.

Step #1 is always the hardest, so make it a teeeeeeennnny tiny thing!  Make sure that you can succeed when you take that tiny step.  Do that tiny “one thing.”

Do something that you KNOW you can do….because who knows, when taking a step, just where any step might lead?

One thing I can promise you is that doing that one thing, WILL lead to doing another, which will lead to another.  IF…

…after you pick up that sock and toss it in the dirty clothes hamper, you do a mini-celebration.  After all you DESERVE IT!

You just girded your loins!  You mustered your gumption! You fought against the feeling of battling an overwhelming MOUNTAIN of things yet to be done and you STARTED!  You took a step FORWARD!  You just did SOMETHING good!

Woo Hoo! Yay! YeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeHAW!

You, my friend, my dearest readers, DESERVE to celebrate! Because…

Depression and other “negative”
feelings are no laughing matter…

When I am feeling “depressed” it usually manifests in one of two ways:

1. A feeling of futility or hopelessness
   ..
   OR less frequently as:
   ..
2. Anger. — Which according to the articles I’ve read is VERY typical for men battling depression.For some reason that scientists can’t quite figure out yet, men suffering from depression often are more on edge, stressed, likely to explode over minor things.

Do a quick Google Search on “Depression in Men.”  The information is easy to find.

Doing SOMETHING positive for myself…

…no matter how small.  How “tiny” in the grand scheme of things.  Makes me feel better.

There is actual real science behind this simple idea.  Google “Feedback Loops” — they can be either negative or positive.

By doing one “good / positive” thing you are halting a negative feedback loop and turning it into a positive feedback loop!

And that’s the key.  With that teeeeeeeeeeny tiny step.  With one SMALL action. You are breaking a negative cycle.

Ooooooooooooohhhhhhh!!!  AAaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh!

Yes, dearest readers, from your sounds of approval, I see that you are now amazed at my clever insights. 😉

Seriously, it really is that simple.  Not easy, no, but simple!

HOWEVER… you have to do the “celebration” part

Make a game of it.

And if you get silly and start laughing at yourself or if your kids or grand kids are present, then don’t worry they will start laughing right along with you! And you’ll be firmly on that positive feedback loop, putting negativity behind you.

Picture this:

Me.  Gloomy.  Not motivated.  Overwhelmed.  Hopeless.  Feeling like that it is all pointless.  Why even bother?  Who cares if I’ve lost over 40 lbs!  I still have over a 100 lbs to go!  It is impossible.  I’ve set my sights too high.  I’ll never get there.  sigh

There are too many hurdles. It is hopeless.  Then, bored, I scroll through Facebook, looking at all my friends living wonderful lives filled with fun, love, and skinny-ness.  SIGH

HUGE heavy friggin’ SIGH….

Then.

[ insert the theme music from Jaws — dum dum dum dum dum DUM DUM DUM DUM! ]

There. On the floor.  I spot my enemy!  A foul sock!  Out of place!  Dirty.  Used.  And offending my latent OCD!

I leap out of my chair!

[ Ok, ok, I painfully push myself up out of my chair with a groan. ]

I spear the sock with my steely gaze and speak “Ah foul sock, enemy of tidiness and cleanliness and all things that my Mom said I should do…

Your. Days. Are. Numbered!!!!”

And I imagine a tiny fearful squeaky sock voice whimpering and quivering in abject fear of my rightful wrath!

And I bend over and carefully pick the sock up while dramatically holding my nose with one hand and pinching the smallest amount of sock between two fingers of the other hand.

I turn my head away in a dramatic swoop of the neck worthy of an Oscar and in my best Diva Voice say “I have you now!”

And off to the bathroom we go.  [Where we studiously ignore the mess in the bathroom] and deposit the foul beast into captivity with its brethren in the dirty clothes hamper.

Notice we are using the Royal “We!”?  snort giggle ROFL @ myself  This is FUN!

Now we celebrate…

We start doing that circle in the air thing with our fists as we dance back to the bedroom chanting “Uh-huh!  Uh-huh! Uh-huh!”

Then with a couple of fist pumps we chant

“We did it!  We picked up a sock! 

We did it!  WHOSE da man?!?  WhoseYerDaddy!?!”

Then I collapse in a fit of giggles back into the desk chair in the bedroom.

And TAH DAH!  I feel better…

Even if you drop all the dramatics.  The simple act of doing one “positive” or “good for you” or “improving yourself or your environment” thing can trigger a cascade of more positive things.

And, in complete seriousness, when you are down in the dumps, fighting against that awful feeling of hopelessness…

…sometimes picking up a single sock and putting it away is a monumental achievement.

It deserves to be celebrated.

So…do…one…thing.  And celebrate.  You can do this!

See ya on the dance floor!