Thursday, September 25, 2008

Today's lesson is a study on the word overwhelmed.
According to The Free Dictionary the meaning of overwhelmed has basically four meanings and is as follows:

o·ver·whelm

o·ver·whelmed, o·ver·whelm·ing, o·ver·whelms
1. To surge over and submerge; engulf: waves overwhelming the rocky shoreline.
2.
a.
To defeat completely and decisively: Our team overwhelmed the visitors by 40 points.
b. To affect deeply in mind or emotion: Despair overwhelmed me.
3. To present with an excessive amount: They overwhelmed us with expensive gifts.
4. To turn over; upset: The small craft was overwhelmed by the enormous waves.

Okay, let's take each of those definitions and apply it to a random person's life, someone, like oh, say, Susanne who blogs at Living to Tell the Story.

1. Yes, the junk in the house has surged over it's barriers and is submerging and engulfing the living areas. Occupants are having to wade through certain areas. The Coast Guard (aka her friend Laura) may have to be called.

2a. Yes, team junk has overwhelmed the unsuspecting Susanne very decisively. Can she rally for the next meeting with Team Junk? Can she raise the Purge, Sort, Organize battle cry? Or is she overwhelmed to the point of utter defeat? Stay tuned to this channel.

2b. Oh yes, how is it that the more overwhelmed Susanne feels the less she is motivated to get to what needs to be done and then the more frustrated she is that everything is getting out of hand. Has despair overwhelmed her? Well not yet, but assorted games, craft supplies, and various and sundry children's items have. Can she fight past the frustration and loss of motivation? Well, put it this way. She must. No options.

3. Yes, Susanne definitely has been presented with an excessive amount. An excessive amount of daughter #1's "stuff" she did not take with her when she moved to school, and excessive amount of children's craft paraphenelia that seems to have erupted in the craft room, and an excessive amount of "What the heck are we hanging onto this for?" kinds of things in the storage room.

4. To turn over? Well she feels like turning over in her bed and covering her head. Does that count towards the definition?

As we can see, the definition of overwhelmed has been applied toward Susanne of Living to Tell the Story with some surprising results. The culprit seems to be the craft and storage rooms. But we know with some encouragement and tips she can do it! So go for it. Encourage away in the comments. Perhaps she can wade in and at least make a dent in it today! And once she gets the ball rolling, who knows what great things can happen? Go, Susanne, Go!




P.S. Don't forget you are all welcome to join in on Friday's Fave Five at Susanne's Living to Tell the Story. Which would be right here. Tomorrow. Tell us your Favorite Five things from your week. See what makes Susanne's list. Will there be something from the craft or storage room? I guess we'll find out tomorrow!

14 comments:

ellen b. said...

Here's my motto and I'm sticking to it. "You will be amazed at what CAN be accomplished in 15 minutes"
So take it 15 minutes at a time and plug away! :0)

gail@more than a song said...

I hope you make some progress! I've got some stuff surging over in places at my house that need tackling; and I have stuff that kids took to school, then brought back home...we don't really like being their storage lockers!

Anonymous said...

I can sooo identify with #3. The more I have to do, the more I want to retreat to a quiet room.

For me the best thing is just to get started. Once you get going you get "into" it more. Then you're motivated to get it done and over with.

Tammy said...

Oh Susanne...I could SO relate to this post!

I managed to clean out a few of my cabinets last weekend- even my kids' cabinet with all the art supplies, and now it's all organized!

But...there are so many areas that are overflowing and yet to do!

So, I guess we have to just tackle them all one at at time and be proud of what we do accomplish!

Tori Leslie said...

These are wonderful I can relate to almost all of them. I enjoyed this, thanks!

Shalee said...

Go Team Susanne!!! (And then take that literally and come do the same at my house.)

BTW, I love your picture in the profile. It's you!!!

Islandsparrow said...

I love the cartoon!

Sandra said...

LOL that's a funny cartoon

Laura said...

I just saw your profile picture too, yay Susanne!

I can so relate to the feeling of being so overwhelmed that you don't have the motivation to do anything. I get like that too, maybe not with stuff so much but definitely other projects that I put off till the very last minute. When I have a deadline you'll usually find me the night before madly scrambling to get it done. But you know what I'm okay with that because when I am 100% focused like that I do my best work hands down.

So I figure what you need is a deadline. I think you should have yourself a girls night and invite some friends over one night. You'll be amazed at what gets done when you know you'll have company coming over.

It's a win-win for sure!! Well except that I won't be able to come to ladies night so don't have too much fun without me...he he.

Now what are you doing here on the computer anyway, get to work girl!!

:)

Willow said...

All I can say is www.flylady.net. She gives encouragement and instruction on how to declutter and get and stay(!) organized.

I agree with Flylady and ellenb, 15 minutes at a time. Right now I am overwhelmed too and some days I just give up, but the next day I just jump right back in and keep going.

Be encouraged! We CAN do it!

Jen said...

Love the profile picture. #4 does fit the definition. What keeps me going is breaking the big jobs into smaller pieces.

I think craft "stuff" multiplies when we aren't looking! Good luck!

Jamie said...

I can so relate to that overwhelmed feeling! I have to break it down into small chunks so it becomes more manageable.

Barb said...

I react exactly the same way when I'm overwhelmed, Susanne. It seems like the more I need to do, the less I want to do it. And I'd rather just stay in bed than face it, so of course the only solution is to just take it one step at a time.

Boy, I'm overwhelmed personified! So I do understand.

FlipFlop Mom said...

ahhh I love Susanne... she's awesome!!!