Category: Limits

What Makes You Come Undone?

Imagine this: your life is busy, but under control. Something happens, though, and everything spirals until you’ve come undone. One event, one that you could have otherwise handled easily, makes everything fall apart. What causes that?

For the most part, human beings are pretty adaptable. As long as the change is not too sudden, we can absorb remarkable changes in our environment.

Take the news, for instance. As recently as a few decades ago, we got our news from newspapers once a day, and a half hour of national news and an additional half hour for local news on TV. That was it!

Now, there are multiple 24-hour news stations, and tuning in to one provides an incredible amount of information all at once. An on-screen anchor is delivering an opinion, or conducting an interview. Chyrons appear regularly to recap what is being discussed. A ticker of other headlines runs across the bottom of the screen. There might also be weather alerts, sports scores, stock market updates, or additional information flashing somewhere on the screen.

It’s a lot to take in, but we do it fairly easily. Our focus can’t be everywhere all at once, but we figure out what is most important to us, and jump around as necessary.

However adaptable we are, there are limits. We can be overwhelmed, with our ability to switch from topic to topic swamped with information. And once we reach that saturation limit, it feels like everything comes undone and we can’t do anything. All but the most simple tasks escape us.

Are there triggers of this type for you? Sometimes it is just a matter of one random thing being one too many. But there might also be a recognizable action that causes you to struggle. Can you think of what yours might be?

Related questions: What do you do when you feel overwhelmed? Is our attention fractured? Are we too busy? How do you find peace when you need it?

 

How Are You Holding Up?

As so many things are in flux, and uncertainty seems to be everywhere you look, how are you holding up?

It is safe to say that the last month has been a busy one. Regardless of how you feel about the changes that are happening, change, by itself, can be very difficult.

In general, we have a preference for the status quo. We understand it, even if we see the flaws and wish things were better. Managing a known, imperfect system, for many of us, is better than introducing changes that might well make things worse (even if they could make things better).

We crave stability. So much so, that many of us devote much of our lives to creating a stable world.

Of course, that stability is an illusion. At any time, your house might burn down, and you could lose everything you own. Your life could be turned upside down with an unfortunate medical diagnosis. An accident can happen to anyone, regardless of age or general health.

In such extreme circumstances, it is important to monitor your own well-being. Knowing when you need a break, or support from loved ones, or an inspirational speech, is important.

With that in mind, here’s the question: How are you holding up? Are you in denial, engaged as never before, or hiding in bed under your covers? What is your mental state in these unusual times?

Related questions: How do you deal with major life changes? How do you perform self-care? Are we too busy? How are we doing?

When Are Limits Beneficial?

We tend to perceive limits as fundamentally bad. But is that necessarily the case? Can limitations be good for us?

There is a natural sense that the more options we have, the better. Limitations are… well, limiting. They keep us from getting the exact thing that we want.

However, in some cases our brains can be confronted with information overload. Given a choice of two or three items — for instance, jars of pasta sauce at the grocery store — we can settle on one fairly easily. Maybe we look at the price, or the ingredients, or one is a family favorite, or whatever.

However, that choice becomes much more difficult when there are a hundred options. Comparing a hundred prices, or a hundred lists of ingredients is much more daunting.

We see this with the internet. Someone opening up a web browser has a virtually unlimited number of websites they could visit. Perhaps you want to check out some news. Or play a game, or watch some cat videos, or learn a foreign language, or talk with someone halfway around the world. All of these, and much, much more, are available at the click of a mouse or a swipe of a finger.

How do you decide what to do? It can feel completely overwhelming.

It turns out that limiting your choices can actually be good in many cases. Narrowing your choices reduces cognitive load, or the amount of brain energy needed to make decisions. A sub-optimal decision made quickly and decisively, may be preferable to a slightly better option made later on.

Can you think of ways that limits can be beneficial?

Related questions: How do you limit yourself? How much is enough? When is it useful to fail? Too much or too little?