Untangling Stressful Habits – Overcommitment
If you have been in my world for a while, you will know that I am passionate about habits and untangling unhelpful habits to live a fulfilling and whole-hearted life as a well-being. So I am writing a series to shed some light on some stressful habits that have come back in to my awareness recently.
Before I start sharing about stressful habits, let’s have a look at what stressful habits are.
What Are Stressful Habits?
Basically – habits can be useful or not so useful, helpful or not so helpful, stress inducing or not. Sometimes we are conscious of our habit/s (i.e. often chosen and intentional) or the habit/s can sit within our blind spots or the unknown.
When I refer to stressful habits, I am referring to habits that are impacting our overall life, business or well-being. They could be adding extra stress, suffering or draining life force energy in our lives. The stressful habits could be showing up in one or a variety of areas within our lives (i.e. physical, emotional, mental, financial, environmental or social).
In order to start to untangle from stressful habits, we need to develop self-awareness, so we can be more responsible and take ownership of our own life. Today I wanted to introduce overcommitment.
Stressful Habit: Overcommitment
Have you ever heard yourself saying, “Sure I can do that” or “No worries, I can do that as well.” Then later on as you look at your diary, you realise that trying to fit that extra thing in to your schedule leaves you feeling anxious and stressed out?
Overcommitment can be defined as –
- “to allocate (resources) in excess of the capacity for replenishment” ~ Merriam-Webster
- “excessive commitment” ~ Collins Dictionary and The Free Dictionary,
- “refers to people who are doing way too much and have a high need for approval for the things they do.” ~ Bellingrath and Kudielka
How would you define overcommitment? Feel free to share below.
Where Does Overcommitment Show Up?
Overcommitment is a habit that many of us are challenged with. It can impact our health, work, stress levels, relationships as well as our sanity. Not convinced? I wonder what would happen if we went through the day and noticed when we were overcommitted (i.e. struggling with getting everything done on the ‘to-do’ list as well as making excuses not to move our bodies or remember an important date?Don’t worry many of us overcommit until we develop greater self-awareness and learn another way, so BE self-compassionate 🙂
Over to You…
Now you have this awareness, what is your next step? Feel free to share any insights on overcommitment or a reflection below. Sometimes change can take a while, so be patient and of course self-compassionate. Also – remember when overcommitment is consciously understood it supports our adventure of wholeness and heartful living.
If you are ready to take yourself on the adventure of getting to know yourself (your true Self), why not join the Toolkit? A place where I share tools, inspiration and ideas to live a courageous and openhearted life.