It fascinates me that everything these days has a name and cause. I read an article recently that asked a thought provoking question: “Is overwhelmed becoming a condition?” If it is, I wondered if there is now a medication for the new aliment. If so, I think I could use some.

I like to consider myself organized, but then it might be I just want to be organized. Just when I think I have the lid on life, about three days worth of stuff hits me at once. It’s not life threatening or the emergency type, but things that just need to be done. That’s when the overwhelmed condition seems to attack.

Instead of putting it in high gear and striking back, I go into neutral. Or, I act like a June bug stuck on its back working really hard to straighten things out, but end up going no where, just wearing myself out. That’s when I realize I have a full blown case of overwhelmed and start singing One Day At A Time, Sweet Jesus. So I sit down to regroup with a Dr. Pepper.

I’m reading the book How Successful People Think by John Maxwell. He’s a mover and shaker and knows how to get things done so I thought I could glean some wisdom. My favorite line so far is, “Hope is not a strategy.”

None of us can live without hope. It’s like oxygen. But, how many times have you heard someone or yourself say, “I sure hope it works out.” That’s probably why overwhelmed is now becoming a condition, because it doesn’t always “just work out.” My new question to myself is now going to be, “Am I doing my part?” My friend Spike White used to stay, “Pray like it all depends on God and work like it all depends on you.”

So I’ll continue to make my plan, but from now on, I’ll be a little more strategic in the planning. That way maybe I can avoid coming down with overwhelmed.