Do SOMETHING

My sister worked, for a while, as an editor at an engineering firm. Once she went to her boss because there was too much to do and she wasn't sure where even to begin.

He told her, "Do something." As in, pick something, anything, and do it. 

It sounds really simple, as in TOO simple, but it's turned out to be helpful advice. 

Clouds probably don't feel overwhelmed.

For one thing, action always helps. Standing frozen with too many competing priorities whirring in your (my) head isn't useful. If nothing else, doing something breaks the power of those non-helpful thoughts. Mine generally include, "Whatever I do will be wrong" or "I'm really going to mess up" or "When will they find out I don't know what I'm doing?"

And for another, getting my hands dirty in a project reminds me of that specific project's needs. 

As in, "Oh yeah, I remember now--this scene was really difficult and I couldn't figure it out and got discouraged and that's why I quit." Or "The path is so overgrown and branches are encroaching and trees are leaning and there's a bunch of crap along the beach and whatever I do won't show so where do I start and why even bother."

Both examples have been true for me, lately. And taking SOME action has helped both the recalcitrant writing project and the unending project of caring for the structures here at our place (and the driveways, and the beaches). 

Turns out, writing a different scene helps me see what's wrong with the one that tripped me up. And moving branches so that mowing becomes possible is a reasonable place to start the seasonal cleanup.  

In other words, doing SOMETHING. One small step. Not always easy, but almost always helpful.