Overwhelmed because of thinking of everything at once

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I realised a few years ago that one of the reasons I get so overwhelmed when I have multiple things to do is this.

An example: I might have a week to write an essay, print some music for a student, make a phone call, convert a computer file from one format to another, do my tax and make a couple of edits to a composition.
Now, that isn't really too much. The essay would be the biggest thing, and I know that once I get started writing I write fluently and easily.

However, instead of thinking that I have to do all those things one step at a time within the space of a week, my brain reacts as though I have to do them all at once within the next 3 minutes, and of course I get overwhelmed. When I try to break it into steps, I have trouble separating the steps from each other and get more overwhelmed. I often end up leaving things to the last minute because it's so difficult to break things down into the required steps and not go into "everything-at-once" mode.

I am getting better at dealing with this by setting up a narrative in my head that goes something like this,
"Ok, I have to write the essay, THEN make the phone call, THEN print that music. RIGHT NOW I am writing the INTRODUCTORY PARAGRAPH of the essay. Next I will write THE TOPIC SENTENCE of my FIRST ARGUMENT."

, which serves as a way to keep me grounded in the sequence of things.

However, I still have problems, as evidenced by tonight: I ended up in tears because figuring out where to start with some simple edits on a piece of music was too overwhelming (and I'm good at music....).

3 questions.

Is this an executive functioning issue?

Can other people here relate to the "all-at-once" thing?

Has anyone found strategies for dealing with it?

Executive function is a broad term so I don't know. I have a hard time prioritizing things but meds for ADD helps some. If I'm in a rush and have to prioritize quickly I'm pretty much incapacitated. It's just white noise up there.

That was really well-described, and fits me quite well. I recently finished writing a research report, and it caused me a fair bit of grief at times...I just couldn't sit down and focus on one part, the many separate parts kept playing on my mind and confusing me.

It certainly seems like an executive function problem - planning, organisation, etc.

As for the strategies, I'd also like to hear some, for I have none!

I find it interesting that AS is associated with narrow-focusing, yet it is really hard to focus on just one thing a lot of the time, I find. The "whole picture" seems to demand to be acknowledged.

Last edited by yellowtamarin on 27 Oct 2010, 5:33 am, edited 1 time in total.

Regarding your three questions:

1. I have no idea.
2. I TOTALLY relate to this problem. Completely and utterly.
3. No, I have never found a way of dealing with it.

Yep, I can relate.

I've even burst into tears a number of times 'cause there's far too many thoughts at once.

Not sure if that could be considered a meltdown, or if it's from the depression, though.

I tend to do something similar, and that is the best I know to do.


I sometimes have that same kind of problem while dealing with inter-related elements of something. Overall, I first try to just address some of the simpler parts or issues while making mental notes about how one thing or another is going to affect something else, then I just kind of "mentally relax" by essentially "walking away" for a bit or by at least telling or reminding myself all of this is really of no life-threatening consequence ... and I eventually find myself just "slipping inside" the project and finishing it up.


Most definitely.

I can definitely relate to that sensation.


I write down all the activities I have to do and the period in which I am going to do it (eg. "exercise, X hour to Y hour").

Megawhelmed topic

The flood of visuals for a picture thinker can be horrifying. I know I have to slow down pick one thing, and divided it into sections to be analyzed. Then the issue can be dealt with.

For the past two weeks I was reminding my roommate that it was his turn to do the dishes. Much to my shagrin, the dishes remained filthy. So guess who ended up cleaning them?

I was so angry the whole time. The entire endeavor knocked my humor out of the ballpark for the rest of the evening. It was all just so frustrating for me to do, and it took about 4 hours to complete. Let me break it down a little. I had to:

-Make enough room (somewhere) to put the dirty dishes
-Take dirty dishes out of the rinsing sink
-Fill washing sink with water, soap, and first load
Etc., etc.

Even since I was young it was always such a long an enduring process to do... Doesn't help that I'm clumsy and will either break stuff or splash water all over myself.

Other things that require long procedures like that affect me much the same. I've taken to cleaning my dishes as soon as I've used them to get around my dishwashing problem. Unfortunately this only serves to supply my roommate with clean dishes at my own expense. Next thing you know, nothing is clean and the sinks are full of dishes/garbage again.

Use to-do lists. Write down everything you are planning to do. Everything except the stuff you can begin working on right this minute. If anything is being put off for later, write it down in a scheduler and prioritise.

Write it all down, and then refer to the list and check the tasks off one at a time as you complete them.

I use calendar and tasks list in a popular e-mail app.