Small Steps That Help You Through Overwhelm and Self-Doubt
Feb 28, 2026
Guess what? Today is Tuesday evening, and I’m starting to feel a whole lot better.
Monday wasn’t great, if I’m honest. I came home feeling overwhelmed by everything that was sitting in my head. So I did something I don’t normally do. I wrote a proper list. Not just a few quick reminders, but everything. Work stuff. School stuff. Questionnaires. House bits. All the tiny, annoying, half-forgotten tasks that had been taking up space in my mind. And as I’ve slowly started ticking things off, I’ve noticed I feel better. Not because life has suddenly become easier, but because I’ve stopped forcing my brain to act like a storage unit for every unfinished task and lingering worry.
I also did something else I don’t usually do...I journalled. Or at least… I think I did. I grabbed a piece of paper and just wrote out everything that was sitting in my head. No structure. No “dear diary”. Just thoughts, fears, frustrations and loose ends. Is that journalling? Maybe. But it worked. It felt like getting everything out of my head and onto paper finally gave my brain permission to rest.
You know what Jessie reminded me? Just because making a list helped this time, and just because journalling helped in that moment, doesn’t mean it will be the answer next time. It worked because, in that moment, my own inner knowing knew it was the right thing to do.
But it’s so easy to do something once, feel better, and decide that must be the solution every single time. That’s how people end up turning one helpful moment into a rule, or even a formula - and then wondering why it doesn’t work for them all the time, or for everyone else. I completely understand how you can do one thing and think, that’s it, that’s the answer.
But the truth is, it helped in that specific moment. And next time I feel overwhelmed, something different might help. Maybe it will be taking a day off work. Maybe it will be going for a walk in nature. Maybe it will be something else entirely. You don’t need a perfect system. You just need to listen to what you actually need, in that moment.
But for me, writing out the list and doing a bit of journalling has genuinely quietened the noise in my head. I’ve noticed I’ve stopped overthinking as much, especially the replaying of conversations and wondering if I made someone feel bad without realising it, or if something I said landed the wrong way when I genuinely didn’t mean it to. I’m also starting to see more clearly that I really only do this when I’m not feeling great in myself. And yeah… it’s annoying. But I am getting better at catching it, or at least recognising how unhelpful it is when my brain starts going down that road. Sometimes I still fall into it and believe it all in the moment, but when I feel better and my head is clearer, I can look back and think, okay… that wasn’t helpful...and I didn’t actually do anything wrong. I can be responsible for my intentions and how I treat people, but I can’t be responsible for other people’s perceptions.
You know what I’ve learned over the past few weeks? There are going to be times when you don’t feel great about yourself. When your confidence dips, your self-esteem feels fragile and self-doubt gets really loud and very convincing. That doesn’t mean you’re failing. It means you’re human. But the important thing to remember is that it isn’t permanent. It will lift. Not because life suddenly becomes easier, but because feelings move. They always do. And even small, almost-not-worth-mentioning actions still count. They still nudge you forward, even when it doesn’t feel like much at the time.
There are moments when that doubt takes up so much space you can barely hear anything else. You feel unmotivated, heavy, and everything feels harder than it should. But those moments pass too, even when you’re right in the middle of them and it feels like they won’t. When they lift, your head clears a little. Things make more sense. Situations feel less tangled. I know those heavy moments will come back, I’m not naïve about that, but they’re temporary. And for me, the best way through them is simple, even when it isn’t easy: just keep going.
Keep putting one foot in front of the other. Even when it feels slower than everyone else. Even when you’re wondering why you’re bothering. Because eventually you notice something...progress. Not big leaps or dramatic transformations. Just movement.
When you’re caught up in your own head like that, you often don’t feel like doing anything at all. But staying still usually makes it worse, because you’re left alone with your thoughts and all the unhelpful stories they start telling you. I’ve noticed that when I’m not feeling great and I have a meeting, something shifts, even if just for a little while. In that moment, the noise in my head quiets because my attention is on the person in front of me. It pulls me out of my own spiral, giving me a brief relief from the thoughts that have been feeding all those rubbish feelings.
And it’s the same with smaller things too. Replying to one email. Doing one tiny task. Even opening the to-do list and ticking off just one thing when you really don’t feel up to it can be enough to get you out of your head for a few minutes and move you forward, even if only slightly. Doing something small quietly reminds you that you’re still capable. And then, a few days later, or a week later, or however long it takes, you look back and realise you didn’t disappear. You didn’t give in. You kept showing up when your confidence was on the floor, and that matters more than you probably realise.
You are not dictated by your mood all the time. It is normal to feel low, to doubt yourself, to feel unmotivated and tired of trying. That’s life. But choosing to act in the middle of those feelings builds something inside you. Quiet strength. Trust in yourself. A kind of self-respect.
So if you’re in one of those heavy moments right now, do what feels right for you. Write the to-do list. Pour your thoughts out onto paper. Go for a walk, or go and see your friends. Make one small step, the kind that only moves you forward slightly, but still moves you forward.
This is just a moment in your life, not the whole of it. And moments pass. 🩷
