In our regular spot where we chat about mental health and wellbeing, those moments when we seem to hit our limits.
Hello, and welcome to the spot on the Film Stories website where we take a breath and have a natter about mental health, wellbeing, and the things that may be affecting you, or people around you. These articles are pretty much weekly – save for a little blip over the last month or so – and there’s an archive of several years’ worth to dig through. Hopefully something in there is of use to you.
This tie, just a few words on the periods in life where you genuinely hit your limit of what you can do. Most of us balance a cocktail of family life, work or study life and personal life, and many of us have people depending or needing things from us. The to do list at times can feel overwhelming, and if you’re anything like me, it’ll feel like a never-ending battle to keep on top of it.
However, what I’ve been appreciating these past months, as other challenges have presented themselves (and that’s putting it mildly), is that the battle against the to-do list sometimes needs to be sacrificed. That there are periods of life where it’s impossible to keep up the level of what you’re doing as other pressures take hold, and – you may or may not find this easy – you have to admit a little bit of defeat.
It’s tricky, not least when others are looking for you to maintain what you’re usually able to do. Yet circumstances change, and life throws its fair share of brickbats at us. And when it does, for self-preservation and self-care as much as anything else, it can be time to put the brakes on a little.
It’s worth making sure, if possible (and it isn’t always), that people around you know that’s what you’re doing. That they’re not waiting for something from you, that you can’t then deliver on. It’s worth too prioritising what it is that you absolutely have to do. If you’re having to strip back on a few things, what are the absolute priorities, and what’s a little bit down the list? You may have to be a little bit brutal there, and again it’s not easy. But ultimately, the alternative is some kind of burnout or self-implosion (metaphorical), and that’s not easy either.
Something, in the end, has to give. It’s important to make sure it isn’t you.
Take care folks. This column will return next week.
