When I'm overwhelmed

​In moments of distress and despair at everything, I find I need to find a way to discharge the emotion that comes with that.

​Let’s call it the sense of all-encompassing overwhelm. 

I need to accept my limits and my ultimate failure to hold back the waves.  Who did I think I was, actually?
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​So I need to give up my sense of purpose, and accept the loss, and myself as lost.
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Then I need to move for a period – change my location, physically or metaphorically (within my memories or points of focus).  Let’s say move for ten minutes and then to stop and look at what’s there.  In detail – what holds my attention, my sensations, what takes me out of myself. Consider it and marvel, as if I’ve never seen it before (grassy bank, abandoned shopping trolley, shop window)*.
 
Let it suggest to me what to do next, and marvel again at the recurrent prompts of stimulus and imagination.  Engage my emotions again, and feel that I have done something unexpected, individual and creative – share it with others.
 
* if this feels hard, as it often will, imagine drawing or describing what you’re looking at, or think about how you might photograph it to put a frame round it.

Are you inspired to write?

​If you are inspired to write a page based on keeping well and active in an age of climate and nature emergencies, we would be pleased to hear from you. We're looking for a maximum of 380 words for each reading and it must be an original piece written by the person submitting it. All entries that are published will be anonymous.
For more information, or if you have any questions, email [email protected]

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