Wish I'd Known: Self-Awareness

If I could only tell my younger, author-self one thing, it would be...

We’ll get to that in a moment.

First, this post might get a little woo-woo for some of you, but please bear with me. This has been my journey, and I hope it allows you to give yourself grace as you navigate not just the author world, but your life.

Since we’re focusing on overwhelm this month, it only seems fair that I tell you about my constant struggle with it. EVERY SINGLE DAY.

But Lindsey, how can you give advice about disarming overwhelm, but struggle with it yourself?

That’s easy – I know what I should do, but that doesn’t mean I always can or do. Remember last week I mentioned it’s an active practice? I’m far from perfect. That’s why I’m trying to help you, so that you can do better than me – train yourself early on. More than that, look at your personality and how overwhelm manifests in all aspects of your life. Maybe it doesn’t and this post won’t be all that helpful, and that’s totally fine. If I’ve learned anything in the past decade, it’s how different the inner-workings of our minds are.  

So, do I get overwhelmed? Yes. All the time? Not anymore, thankfully! I am MUCH better at avoiding overwhelm than I used to be, but there’s a reason for that. Just like there’s a reason I can’t flip a switch and my overachieving tendencies shut off, the constant threat of overwhelm going with it.

My personality is literally the opposite of taking things slowly and avoiding overwhelm. Every test I’ve taken in the past five years tells me the same thing: I’m an empire builder, a go-getter. An impulsive multi-tasker. A perfectionist with an intense need to do all things myself, the exact way I want them done. And I don’t celebrate success. I move on to the next thing, because the work is never done.

Yikes! I’m just dripping with joy and fun, aren’t I? This is how my father always was, but I’m a 10 on the “work horse” scale while he was probably a….6 or 7? My mother and sister? Ha! We could not be more different. They work hard, don’t get me wrong, but their mindset is the complete opposite. They are romantics and do whatever feels right, and they exude a nonchalance I have never known in myself. Crazy, right?

Some might call my personality ambitious or me a workaholic, and both would be true. I have so many ideas and not acting on all of them as they pop into my head is one of the hardest practices in my everyday life.

It is not in my nature to slow down, so avoiding overwhelm is difficult. But let me back up.

I mentioned before how important it is to know and understand yourself and your mind. When you do, you see patterns and realize how much you self-sabotage.