Mapping our Distance Between 'Stress' and 'Overwhelm'

4/15/2022

by Heather M. F. Lyke and the Third Eye Education team

As Third Eye Education, our main focus is to be a network of learners that shares their own learning as a way to propel learning in others. Additionally, we aim to keep our resources free of fiscal barriers—and we do this as a nonprofit run by volunteers with no budget.

One learning we've been leaning into lately is an individual's need to find balance.

A commonality between those of us who make up the core team of Third Eye Education: we thrive on new challenges. While new challenges open doors to new learnings, create new conenctions, and allow for new collaborations—they can also lead imbalance.

Brené Brown's newest book, Atlas of the Heart: Mapping Meaningful Connection and the Language of Human Experience, states:

"When we don’t understand how our emotions shape our thoughts and decisions, we become disembodied from our own experiences and disconnected from each other."

Wishing to not become disconnected—we value our readers, our listeners, our collaborators in learning far too much—it's high time we share something with you: our team is stressed. Stressed, and wanting to ensure we don't dip into the world of overwhelm.

To differentiate between stress and overwhelm, Brown shares stories from her time as a waitress, breaking down two common terms used in the service industry. At risk of oversimplifying, Brown explains:

In the Weeds is when a server is overloaded with tasks and demands, but can still articulate and understand each of the individual aspects leading to the inundation.
Being Blown is when a server has become so overloaded with tasks and demands, that they can no longer articulate nor understand the nuances of the inundation.

Then noting:

"Stressed is being in the weeds. Overwhelmed is being blown."

Identifying Stressors

We are in the weeds. No doubt, without question, 100%: the weeds are surrounding us.

In Atlas of the Heart, readers learn that,

"We feel stressed when we evaluate environmental demand as beyond our ability to cope successfully. This includes elements of unpredictablity, uncontollability, and feeling overloaded."

Here at Third Eye Education, we are no strangers to environmental demands, but lately they have been piling up more than ususal. For perspective, here is a glimpse:

Nick Truxal (Third Eye Education co-founder, podcast host, and writer) has returned to grad school: while taking an overload of courses he has also been doing an internship that has him traveling and working extra-long days.
Anne Halliwell, (Third Eye Education podcast producer and audio engineer) recently started a new job with longer and less-predictable hours, while also juggling an increase in social obligations and household maintenance needs.
Heather Lyke (Third Eye Education co-founder, podcast host, writer, and editor), while navigating a new and more demanding role at work, has also been obtaining her superintendent's license and enduring recent personal trauma.

All of this in addition to the stressors bought to all of us by 2022—the ongoing Covid pandemic, the war in Ukraine, the increase of mass shootings in the United States, and so on...

Of course, these are no different from what many have been juggling. Increasingly, many are tiptoping on the edge of overwhelm. Teacher strikes are on the rise,cost of living has been steadily climbing, and the ability to leave work at work has been deminishing. The great resignation—or what Ranjay Gulati is calling "The Great Rethink"—exists for a reason.

Avoiding Overwhelm

"Overwhelmed," Brown explains, is "an extreme level of stress;" one where the "emotional and/or cognitive intensity [gets] to the point of feeling unable to function." We here at Third Eye Education don't want to reach this tipping point. While we may be in the weeds, we stand tall: we maintain sight of the horizon.

For this reason, we are making some adjustments for the foreseeable future:

Articles: Since our launch well over a year ago, we have posted a weekly article every Sunday. While we will still strive to post weekly, the consistancy of posting always on Sundays will falter from time to time.
Podcasts: In Season 1, we released episodes every two weeks, always on a Tuesday. Even with our delayed launch of Season 2, we have found this difficult to maintain. So, while we have some amazing episodes to bring you, they will be released intermitently for at least the next few months.
Collaborations: In 2021, we were gathering monthly with a small group of core collaborators, from whom many of our ideas bloomed. These meetings were structured and consistent. In 2022, structure and consistency have taken a backseat. We do still connect from time to time, but in spare pockets of time and not as a full group.

These are temporary adjustments. Thank you for your compassion as we as we cut a new path through our shifting realities.

We always want to be honest with our community, even when it means admiting something hard, like stuggle. It brings us back to Atlas of the Heart, where Brown shares that:

"Vulnerability is not weakness; it’s our greatest measure of courage."

We hope you agree.