What to do when you are overwhelmed and confused?

Human beings are more emotional than rational.

We are pretty much different from a computer program. If you give 2 variables to a program (“a” and “b”), assign them the numerical values of 2 and 3 respectively, and develop a program to add these 2 variables, the answer (hopefully) won’t be more than 5.

Straight-forward stuff, right?

But when you are supposed to make a choice about asking out the girl that you have a crush on or taking up a new role in the organization that scares you… things are not this straight forward.

There are layers of emotions involved.

In order to move from confusion to clarity, we need to have awareness about our problems.

For example, someone might say –

I feel so tired. I am frustrated with my job. I was hoping to start making a lot of money this year… but looks like I am far from it. I have not been able to focus on my health and relationships. I am a mess

Our natural tendency is to mix all of these problems in one bucket.

This is because we are emotional beings.

We need to disentangle.

The solution to the “money making problem” could be “X”

The solution to the “being frustrated in my job” could be “Y”

The solution to “not focussing on my health” could be “Z”.

Once we get the clarity of the problems, solutions start coming to us.

Okay, so how do you disentangle?

Let me offer you 2 ways.

1. Talk to a friend

I think there are 3 prerequisites here.

A. The friend should be smart enough to ask you the right questions
B. The friend should be a good listener
C. The friend should care about you.

This conversation might prove effective in disentangling.

2. Write

When we are forced to put our thoughts on paper, we have no choice but to be methodical in the way we express them. The mere act of writing down starts the disentangling process and provides us with tremendous mental clarity.

May all of us deal with our confusion smartly. 🙂