When you feel overwhelmed, aim to simplify the complex.
There’s a a quote from Confucius that I remind myself of quite often:
Life is really simple, but men insist on making it complicated.
I tend to remind myself of it whenever my list of things to do seems to have swelled to larger than I can manage. I also think about it when I catch myself doom-scrolling on Twitter, or falling down Wikipedia or Tik Tok rabbit holes, or standing in front of the open pantry, mindlessly eating most of a bag of Cool Ranch Doritos.
I think about it as I sense things becoming too complicated for me. When it all feels like too much, and you feel paralyzed, just simplify. Make that your only task. If you don’t have a list of all the things on your mind eating at you, make that list. Then categorize those things into a few categories.
That simple act of taking a lot and making it a little will make you feel better, more in control. From there, you can gain more confidence in yourself–at least for today.
