The Reason You Feel Overwhelmed and Lost
You wanted to learn so you could earn. You wanted to earn so you could have a lifestyle you love. The reason you feel overwhelmed is not lack of effort. It is the absence of strong goals. This is the prayer I say every morning before the work.
I want to be honest with you. The reason you feel overwhelmed and lost is not because you are lazy. It is because your work has no center.
You have dreams. Most of us do. What we often do not have is a plan that points those dreams somewhere real.
“I am doing so much, so why do I still feel lost?”
I know that feeling.
You wanted to learn because you wanted to earn. You wanted to earn because you wanted a stable career as a freelancer. You wanted to become a freelancer because you wanted a lifestyle you love. And you want that lifestyle because, deep down, you want to be whole. Emotionally. Intellectually. Physically. Financially. In your career. In your relationships. Spiritually.
That is a lot to carry without a center.
So I want to ask you the questions I had to ask myself. Where are you right now? What do you want one month from now? A year from now? Ten years from now? Which dimension of your life matters most to you in this season?
I will never know your answer. But I know this. You are not behind because you are not working hard enough. You are behind because the work has nothing holding it together.
I chose freelancing over a corporate career because I knew the totality of who I am. I knew my physical body’s capacity. I knew the skills I had and the areas where I was weak. I knew the kind of people and clients I wanted to work with. I knew the kind of life I wanted to live.
So instead of collecting more advice from outside, sit with the voice inside you. Map out your plan. It does not have to be perfect. Nobody plans a life perfectly. The point is not perfection. The point is focus.
If that feels too big, here is the simple exercise I do every morning. I ask myself, what is the most important thing I want to do today? My answer is APTAT.
A. Admit that I am a sinner who needs God’s grace and forgiveness.
P. Pray that the Lord will enable me to love Him and the people around me the best I can today.
T. Trust God that He does not make mistakes, so I should go on with my life and not worry.
A. Act on the right things I should do, and never waste my time on the things I should not do, because it is my desire to honor God.
T. Thank God for everything I have for the day. The sunlight. Waking up and seeing mama cooking. My family. My work. My lifestyle. The little and big blessings from the Lord.
Then I prioritize. Whether it is for myself, for my family, for my clients, or for the SWAHG community.
Do I always succeed? Am I always focused?
No.
But when I get sidetracked, I have the strongest foundation already built into my day. That foundation is God’s steadfast love. He is the center my work was missing. He is the One who holds the dimensions together, because I cannot.
This is why I believe overwhelm is a spiritual problem before it is a productivity problem. When God is the center, the goals stop competing. Work becomes worship. Rest becomes trust. The plan can be imperfect because the Planner is not.
So here is the bottom line of this long writing. You lost your focus because you are not looking at the bigger picture of who you really want to become, and Whose you already are.
Once you know it, take one step at a time. Start with APTAT tomorrow morning. See what shifts.
For the glory of God.
- Lala