I deal with being overwhelmed in the most ass-backwards way. I become immobilized. What do you do when you are immobilized?

That means that instead of folding laundry, cleaning the bathroom, writing a blog post, putting away the winter clothes or making rice krispie cake, I do nothing. 

Sometimes I snuggle up on the couch and watch Scandal.

Sometimes I open the cupboard and binge eat. 

Sometimes I cry. 

I remember this happening a bit when I was a kid. But, like me, it was small.  I never could really label it – I just knew that I didn’t feel quite right.

Now that I’m older. I can most definitely identify the feeling of being paralyzed by everything that piles up, and I hate it. It is one of the few qualities I don’t like about myself.  Mostly because I like to be able to make sense of my world. This does not make sense to me.  Being so overwhelmed that I end up doing nothing sort of pisses me off.  

I feel lucky that I can identify it, deal with it and move on.  It usually take a day or two and then I get my shit together.  But what frightens me is the idea of a day where I won’t be able to move on.  Where I get so immobilized that I have to admit that I am quite possibly depressed. 

Doing these steps have helped me. In fact, I think this list has saved my life.