Overdoing it

Has anyone noticed, we have this tendency in life to overdo things?

What is it about us that wants to do more than is needed?

WHY are we overdoing it?

When are we overdoing it?

How are we overdoing it?

What on earth are we overdoing every single day that is harmful to our body and our environment?

Is this overdoing thing a habit that is not easy to get away from?

What is our long list in the Overdoing it department of life?

Do we like to please others, so we keep overdoing it?

Do we just want to impress others so we will keep overdoing it?

Do we seek recognition and crave identification for what we can do by overdoing it?

Do we like others to think we are superhuman because we have nailed it with overdoing it?

Do we listen to signs from our body, when we are overdoing it?

Do we honestly think overdoing it is not causing tension in our body?

Do we pay attention when things go wrong, because we are overdoing it?

Do we find it hard to stop and pause, when we are in overdoing it mode?

Do we keep going and overdoing it because we think we have no choice?

Do we wish for the day when we could stop going the extra mile with this overdoing it nonsense as it is hurting us?

Do we keep moving the goal post with this overdoing it way of life?

Do we believe overdoing it is going to fast track us to heaven?

Do we want to fool ourselves that overdoing it is natural and normal?

Do we make overdoing it a priority in life instead of knocking it out?

Do we repeat overdoing it so much, that it is part of our Foundation?

Dear World

Can we relate to any of the following in our life when it comes to overdoing it?

Alcoholoverdoing it is what others call binge drinking, but for us it’s the normal Friday night and weekend way of living, now going into any day and night of the week. We make the most of overdoing it if there is a so called celebration, like birthdays or weddings, or any other excuse that is out there.

Caffeineoverdoing it is a must as we have to function everyday. With heaps of cafes soon as we step outside, we are never far from our mocha, macchiato, frappe, latte, frothy cappuccino, double shot espresso, flat white, etc.

It used to be first thing and now it is all day, everyday and even at night time. When we hear it’s an addictive drug, we switch to green teas, which have caffeine, but we pretend we are caffeine free as the name green sounds clean.

Chat roomswe know it’s wrong and we know we are bored and are looking out there to chat and before we know it, we are overdoing it everyday.

We spend our days dreaming about what we are going to say and we like this virtual world, that is not face to face. With our fingers on the keypad we are overdoing it before we can even think what it is we have just said.

Chocolate/Candyit is just so easy to keep overdoing it. With the new jumbo sizes and big family packets available, there is nothing to stop us now. We love the comfort it brings us and we don’t care in that moment if it causes any harm to us. We love the triple chocolate desserts now available as we get a higher dose of the same feeling, which keeps us going back for more.

Sod the new year’s resolution, we love our chocolate too much to deal with anything that may even think about coming up that we need to deal with – like our deep buried hurts.

Cleaningothers call it OCD but to us overdoing it gives us something to do and something we have control over, while other areas of our life are falling apart.

We like overdoing it where we can and we create things just to clean it up and feel like we have achieved something. If we could not overdo it with cleaning we would have idle time on our hands and that seems a waste, so we think this way we stay busy and do not have to feel anything that may be bubbling up.

Drugswe need more of the same to get the feeling we want, so overdoing it is very easy. In the moment, we just go for it and we keep finding ways to keep going and kicking the habit is not easy.

We need it more and more and it is part of our lifestyle choices. Overdoing it with drugs is our new normal so we keep going for it regardless of what anyone says.

Eatingwe always have a habit of overeating or overdoing it with the wrong foods. We are never overdoing it with broccoli or spinach.

We love our junk food as it’s quick stuff, just how we like it and the combo of salt, fat and sugar means we just keep saying yes to more and more.

We then try out those latest fad diets but they are generally one minute wonders and we are back on our comfort of fast foods and takeaways. Overdoing that is easy for us because it is familiar.

If we can get away with it, we make sure we eat out at least once a day and that saves the mess at home or the bother to shop and cook the stuff up.

Energy DrinksWe discovered these and they look cool and we prefer them to the hot coffee smell first thing. Problem is we are always overdoing it, as they give us this high and buzz but soon after we feel low and lethargic so we go for more of the same.

We hear it is full of sugar and caffeine but we need this drink to give us energy. We don’t think there is another way to get energy into our body.

Entertainingnow this is super easy to be, in the overdoing it department. First off, the agenda is to outdo the one we had last time and then make sure we go full out to impress and leave our mark on others, at whatever cost. We forget our budget and all other sensible things that we planned and we just go the whole hog.

We invite more people and their pets – way more than we can manage and go “hey ho, let’s just do it”. We love the buzz we think others are getting, as we are the ones putting the show on, so to speak. We get so carried away, we spend years paying back the huge costs or we have so much money we want others to know what we can do, that they will never be able to do.

Exercisewe see celebrities overdoing it, so we have a go thinking we can get the perfect body in no time with visible results.

We sign up for every class at the gym and then have plans to impress our mates, so we plan our life around exercise and sport.

We heard about anabolic steroids and think that would do it.
Others we know are already on this and got the results we want fast and we know they got there by overdoing it.

Internetoverdoing it is easy to pass time. Live in a virtual world and we can get away with anything. Others do it so we join them and don’t know how to stop.
We overdo the posting and uploading and then we check in hundred times a day and get annoyed if we don’t get lots of likes.

We get bullied, so we overdo it from our hurts and do it to others. We get away with all this as we can go anonymous and with little policing on the world wide web, we just play it like a game.

We even forget to look after ourselves, with our overdoing it on the Internet.

Mobile Phonemorning, noon and night and all the times in between, we are overdoing it by our checking in. Our moods, emotions, reactions and responses all come from this non-stop checking the phone business.

The thought of no phone is alien and not something we would even consider. Overdoing it on the phone is our normal and finding ways to do even more is our goal for the year.

New Year Detoxwe want the perfect body and we want it now.
We think overdoing it might give us the results fast as the advert told us.

We have no time to waste as we are busy planning our holiday in the sun and posting photos on social media.

Online GamblingOverdoing it is always easy as the buzz we get makes us want to do it again and again and we easily forget any logical, rational, sensible way of thinking.

We keep saying we will change tomorrow but something gets into our mind and we do the same thing the next day and the next, until we lose all our money. Then we get creative finding new ways to get more money and getting into debt to feed our gambling addiction.

Painkillerswe start with one box over the counter and we like how it numbs out all the pain, but we need more as another pain appears. Then we find we are taking them like they are sweets going out of fashion.

Before we know it, we rely on them every single day and there is no way we can stop. Overdoing it is easy, because we just need to make sure we can’t feel pain so we can carry on doing what we want to do and not really thinking about the consequences.

Pornnot sure why we love it so much but overdoing it is simple and easy. No one watching so private time out, is what we think. Before we know it, we are doing things that are a secret from all those we know and the force to go into the dark world of porn tempts us daily and grabs us like a monster.

We seek the relief porn gives us and we want more of this so called intimacy which is in front of a screen. We have our phone, laptop and computer securely coded, hoping no one will ever find out, especially our family and friends.

Shoppingwe know our budget but what the hell, spending gives us relief.
Or we have the money, so why not keep blowing it and overdoing it because we can, as we have no respect for money.

With the online shopping, it is easy and effortless to just sit indoors and overdo it.

Social MediaOverdoing it is what everyone does, so we join the forces and go with it, even if it hurts us. We are constantly comparing with others and bad mouthing others because we can. We overdo it with our ugly comments and we overdo it with chit chat about anything and everything. We regret most of what we say but in that mad moment of overdoing it, we can’t seem to stop ourselves.

Sportwe love the feeling, they call it dopamine. We can’t get enough of it and it wears off so we want more. Add to that we get recognition, identification and stimulation inside, because we are into something and the drive to achieve and succeed goes way past any common sense we may have.

We forget our body in moments of overdoing it and get annoyed when it lets us down with an injury or sore muscle. Overdoing it usually works as we ignore all the signs our body is communicating, until the big bang where things get so bad that we are forced to stop. Until then, we talk and laugh about how our body is behaving, but it never stops us overdoing it when it comes to sport.

SugarOverdoing it from day dot. Can’t remember where the stop button is when it comes to sugar. Always forgetting that it is a drug, playing havoc with our mind and body but “hey ho” we say, as we stuff the cream cake, the whole pack of biscuits or our favourite alcoholic drink, which is full of sugar. We feel racy and think we can multi-task, speak fast and get things done fast, only to find the crash and low coming but we know the solution – just get more sugar in the system fast.

TV is probably what we do best, when it comes to overdoing it. Once on, the telly is never switched off. We just keep flicking channels, settle down and keep watching. Sometimes we don’t even know what we are watching or why.

We then switch to food as the adverts keep tempting us, press the pause and go back for more, with the plate ready to scoff in front of the screen. We know how to keep the kids quiet and we know how to get our adult channels, once they are in bed.

We are so busy overdoing it with our television that we nod off and before we realise, half the night has passed and we are still in front of the box, which is way too loud. Then off to bed and we repeat all this the next day and the next and so it goes…

Workingwe are consistently overdoing it and sign up for overtime without thinking if our body actually needs the rest day off, to catch up on sleep and prepare for the next week.

We forget the clock and overdoing it has become this lifelong pattern when it comes to work. We never seem to catch up and our sleep is suffering.

We always have a bag of excuses ready to tell our partner, the kids or anyone we planned to meet, why we are overdoing it at work. We lose sense of space and time, as we are so focused on our work and seem to create even more work, so the cycle never ends.

In fact, overdoing it gives us some kind of stimulation and we just want more of the same, even though our rational mind is telling us – go home.

Enough said – we could be Overdoing it here if we say more.

What needs to be presented has been done –
nothing more and nothing less.

 

 

 

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Comments 12

  1. This is such an insightful blog and very human. Who isn’t overdoing it in one way or another?

    It got me asking why.

    Why do we do this? Why do we overdo it?

    Reading the blog it feels like one huge indulgence.

    Whether it is food, which we associate with indulgence, or work, which as a society we currently don’t.

    But what if it is all actually the same – we have our things that we overdo because they give us something?

    And what if that thing is avoidance? Avoidance of self care.
    Avoidance of responsibility.
    Avoidance of true connection with another or with family.
    Avoidance of our natural stillness and state of being.
    Avoidance of the change we could be bringing.
    Avoidance of the next step.

    Very much worth considering this with honesty – I can feel this blog is a powerful offering.
    Thank you.

    1. Your comment makes a lot of sense JS.

      I have been the queen of overdoing it – not a title I am proud of and I can say that the behaviour has not yet been knocked out but slowly, slowly I am seeing and making changes.

      When we have prided ourselves on being able to do so many things, I have found that there is a humility required in accepting that being able to ‘do it all’ is not necessarily the Truth for our bodies.

      Could this be the cause of many illness and disease?

      As a woman I have a diagnosis of fibroids and I know that overdoing it has been a huge contributory factor.

      When I had some surgery last year and time off sick from work, I could feel how much my body let go and there was less pushing. I was more at ease.

      Now I am back at work and am faced daily with the internal question of how to work hard, give it my all and approach things in a way so that I am not overdoing it. This is something that I have to keep in the forefront of my mind, so as not to go backwards.

      One of the things I have found very useful is making a commitment to leaving on time. It provides me with a focus and the intention behind it is not to get away from the building as quickly as possible but to take care of myself. However it only works if what I choose to do once I leave work is to take care of me.

      By overdoing it, although our mind tells us that we may have to get x, y and z done, it is actually ineffective as we don’t get things done with a clarity and sharpness if we are tired, dragging at the end of the day or in a ‘I have to get this done’ mode.

      I have been surprised a number of times when I have left things at the end of the day, as I can feel that by trying to meet the ‘deadline’ I am pushing and then the next day the space opens up where it can be completed effortlessly.

      Thank you very much for writing this blog Simple Living Global.

      I will continue to question where else I am overdoing it, as I am feeling the benefits of identifying where this is happening and making changes.

      1. Shevon, thank you for sharing this.

        I am having a similar experience.

        I had time off work recently and felt how settled my body was – even my movements were different as a result. Back at work, I am very conscious of the pressures of my job and the environment in which I work and how I respond to that. The pace is intense and overdoing it is the everyday norm.

        So I am asking myself, as you are, how do I give it my all, but not overdo it?

        Your comment was very interesting in this:

        “When we have prided ourselves on being able to do so many things, I have found that there is a humility required in accepting that being able to ‘do it all’ is not necessarily the Truth for our bodies.”

        I realised reading this, that I still want to believe I can do it all. I have not yet let go of that.

        Thank you for this big word ‘humility’ – it feels like that is a hugely vital dose of medicine.

  2. I have spent my life overdoing things because that is what I thought I needed to do to succeed in the world.

    I thought I had to do more so that people would recognize that I was a ok.

    Our world rewards overdoing things. But is bigger and faster really a better way to live?

    What a relief to finally realize that I am already amazing, and I do not have to overdo anything, just be myself in everything that I do.

    Thank you Simple Living Global for supporting me remember that.

  3. Powerful blog, raising multiple questions why we choose to overdo everything.

    I can relate to this in multiple aspects of my life.

  4. This overdoing it is huge for so many of us and I even wrote a blog about what happened to me and how I got sick and needed major surgery because I simply could not stop the internal momentum of doing doing doing.
    See link – https://medicineandsergebenhayon.com/2015/01/20/hysterectomy-a-wake-up-call/

    The great thing is, this in no longer on my radar and my job is not to then sit back and have a comfortable life but share everything, absolutely everything that has truly supported me to turn my life around. I learned this valuable tip from a man called Serge Benhayon, who knows what he is talking about.

    So I started with commenting on that blog and saying to those who commented what I did and how I make small changes. I kept doing this consistently and no surprise there are over 1100 comments. That in itself speaks volumes.
    ADD to that this website and all the content and over 1500 comments from me and we could say that is overdoing it. But what if it is not because I am not drained, exhausted or requiring stimulations and distractions in my life to live everyday?

    I know now that I was choosing to live with such a high level of disregard and neglect for my body and I had to be stopped. I do not see the whole thing now as a bad luck time or why me. Instead I see it as a much needed opportunity to learn a valuable lesson and evolve from that way of living.

    I realise that my lack of Responsibility for the way I was living had a greater impact.
    Think about it I was having to use the health system to get me back on track and the cost of major surgery could have been avoided had I been living like I do today.

    With no GP visits in the past 10 years, it would be true to say that how I am choosing to live now, is not overdoing it. WHY – because my body is telling me and this in itself is my confirmation.

    No more draining our over worked health system.

  5. Overdoing is all about not listening to our bodies.

    I am amazed at what I have been able to do in my life. I built my own house, singlehandedly while caring for my children. {twin – 2 year olds and a 4 year old].
    My wife was working to pay the bills. It was an amazing experience in our lives.

    Looking back it was a crazy time, and not very loving to my body. But it was confirmation that I am capable of amazing things.

    I was overdoing it when we decided to do that, and I paid for it, because I continued to ignore my body and overdo it, and when I was 50, my body said no more, I was completely exhausted.

    So what would I have been able to do if I was listening to my body and honoring it?

    I am 66 years old and am feeling the wear and tear in my body from how I have lived. But with support from Simple Living Global and stopping and checking in with my body, I am healing my old patterns of overdoing. Getting back to myself again. Ready for whatever is next!

    The cool part is that when I am honoring myself when I do things, I get just as much done and it is a lot more fun.

  6. If I can focus on the task at hand and not get distracted by the next thing I am going to do, I get a level of satisfaction, from the thing that I am doing in that moment, that makes me more complete, so I do not have to go into the overdoing thing, to try and fill that space I created when I was not with myself.

  7. Great blog, and I love the insightful comments here too. A much needed conversation in our lives, and work. How different workplaces would be if we were no longer ‘overdoing it’.

    My own experience of over doing it is that we can actually work hard and long hours, and at the end of that we can either feel shattered, and unwell, or a little physically tired and feeling great. What makes the difference?

    One of the things I am learning is that the intention behind the way I work makes a difference – if I push myself and work hard – for recognition from others, to be seen by others to be making a difference, or I work hard/push because I am feeling empty, sad, lonely – when I finish work that day I feel shattered, and unwell – and it always feels like I have overdone things.
    If I work without those intentions to fill me up or to make an impression, and instead I simply go to work and do what is needed, stay focused, and purposeful I do not feel so tired or unwell. I am learning nowadays if I over do it to check in and ask myself why.

  8. This is such a much-needed blog. I have also been queen of overdoing it, for a long time, and my body is suffering. Why is it that it takes us to get ill for us to stop and ask ourselves why we’re working the way we’re working – and even then, do we stop to question the quality of the work that we’re doing?

    I love what you’ve shared above Jane about the intention behind how and why we work: are we working to fill an emptiness, to not feel something, to gain recognition or acceptance, or are we taking care of our bodies first, so that we can feel what to do next and when to do it?

    It’s not about saying no to absolutely everything and clearing my life so that I do a minimal amount of work, but about making my body number 1, more important than the task at hand, so that the task can be done with ease and flow, and so that I’m not feeling drained and exhausted – and totally resentful – at the end of it.

  9. There was a moment during a children’s birthday party we were organising this weekend, when a space opened up to take stock.

    It was a busy day with lots going on, and yet there was this space presenting itself.

    The kids were engaged, the food was cooking. All there was to do was appreciate the moment and take a lovely breath.

    It made me realise how unnecessary overdoing it actually is. How much flow there is if we chose and move in that.

  10. If we actually stopped to think about it, where is the line drawn between just enough and overdoing it.

    It is so easy to think that what we are doing is the right thing but is it the true thing.

    We are so good at justifying that ‘one more’ syndrome – one more email, one more rep with the weights, one more spoon of food, one more TV programme or film, one more thing to clean, one more hour at work, one more social media item, one more news story, etc, etc.

    I have certainly been an overdoing kind of guy in the past and there are still times when I overdo things and I am fully conscious of the fact but after reading this blog I have realised there have been plenty of times when I have overdone it and not been aware.

    Is it possible that we go into overdoing it to not allow ourselves to feel what our body is trying to tell us?

    We tell ourselves it is OK and we know what we are doing but do we truly ask and feel what our body is saying?

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