I tend to become easily overwhelmed when starting a new project. This was something that plagued me in college and graduate school. At the beginning of each semester I would receive a course syllabus rife with assignments, projects, and due dates. I would panic which would often lead to a total emotional meltdown. Eventually this panic runs its course and I am calm enough to talk myself into a "can do," problem solving attitude. I start by breaking the project or assignment into smaller, more manageable tasks. I also like to make to-do lists where I ask myself, "What can I cross of this list today?" I remember to always take things one day at time. To sum this up in a pithy quote: The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. You will never take that first step if you are too busy being emotionally crippled by everything that must be accomplished along the way.
The same advice holds true for wedding planning. I think many women are initially overwhelmed with the amount of planning and decision-making that comes along with throwing a wedding, myself included. You have friends, relatives, coworkers, and complete strangers offering up all kinds of advice or recommendations. To make matters worse, you are immediately bombarded with a thousand minute (but seemingly huge and important) decisions. Everything from wedding colors, to cake flavors, favors, venues, music, vows, and more. There's lots of weighing pros and cons, rationalizing, and second guessing yourself. But one of the best things you can do is to make a decision and then come to peace with that decision. Walk away from it. We all want to make sound, well-researched choices. Unfortunately there isn't always time or energy to make the perfect choice every time, so sometimes the good enough choice needs to take precedent. And you need to be okay with that!
Here's a tale that might ring true with my fellow DIY warriors. My dad (who generally gives the best advice) has something he calls the 90%. Essentially his philosophy is that all the extra time and energy you put into making something 100% isn't usually worth the investment, nor is it outwardly noticeable to anyone but yourself. Most of the time 90% should be good enough. If you are familiar with economics this is basically the concept of diminishing marginal returns. He came up with this idea while vacuuming dog hair out of his car. I really like to imagine my dad tediously vacuuming up dog hair while pondering life's big philosophical questions. I am the type of person who will run herself into the ground in an attempt to reach 100%. I could spend hours or days on a lesson plan that is over in 50 minutes and which my students do not appreciate. I have to go above and beyond, when really, 90% would have sufficed and no one but me would have known the difference. I guess it's all about knowing when to pick your battles. And some battles just need 90%.
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| My brother and me hanging out with dad, giver of great advice and proponent of the 90% rule. |
Another important piece of advice, which I inherently understood and yet initially failed to follow: stop trying to do everything on your own. I wouldn't necessarily call myself a control freak, but sometimes it's hard for me to delegate tasks to others. I guess I like knowing things are done right the first time and it's hard for me to trust other people to complete tasks that are up to my standards. Well guess what? That's irrational and silly and creates extra, unnecessary stress. Let your eager friends and family help out (but don't turn them into indentured servants!). And that means your fiancé too, that poor guy who might not have any idea what he's gotten himself into.
One night I was up late, tossing and turning in bed when I glanced over at Mr. C. He had passed out the moment his head touched the pillow and was sleeping peacefully. Why was I the one up late worrying about wedding details while he was soundly sleeping? First of all, I think that women are terrible about taking their worries and troubles to bed with them. I think men are better at shutting out the mental noise that stirs in our brains and causes worry and anxiety. Secondly, at the time Mr. C did not have my massive wedding checklist floating around his mind. He was blissfully unaware of all that needed to be accomplished in order to throw the wedding of our dreams. That's because I was the one who was scrolling through wedding blogs making my mental wish list. I was the one on The Knot trying not to freak out when I saw the massive wedding checklist. I was the one with the inspiration folder of DIY projects just waiting to be started (or finished). To be fair, we made all of the big decisions together, but I was starting to become overwhelmed with the details, especially since I've also undertaken designing the save-the-dates and invitations.
He had no idea I was feeling overwhelmed until one day I had a mini-meltdown. "I can't do this by myself!" I cried. Mr. C was taken aback by this sudden deluge of emotions. He had no idea I was silently obsessing over these details. I had let the worry pile up and pile up until I couldn't hold it back anymore. I told him I felt like Frodo carrying the One Ring into Mordor. I was carrying this massive burden on my own. I was the one having nightmares about a wedding with missing chairs, bad food, and absent bridesmaids. I was the one stressing about vendors and hair stylists. And really, that was my fault. I hadn't showed him the checklist. I hadn't communicated my expectations. I hadn't assigned him any tasks. He didn't know a thing about scouting out rehearsal dinner locations, out of town guest baskets, escort cards, or booking hotel room blocks. As soon as I communicated my frustrations to him, he immediately asked what he could do to make the wedding planning burden easier. So I did something I should have done weeks earlier: I assigned specific tasks to him. And you know what? The world did not end. He completed them and he did an awesome job. That's because I'm marrying a very capable and responsible guy who I wasn't giving enough credit.
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| I sit and ponder why I didn't enlist Mr. C's help earlier. |
Well, that's about it on advice from me (for now, anyway). To be honest, I enjoyed writing this out because I am often the one who needs to listen to my own advice the most. I need to stay calm and focused and continue taking this wedding planning journey one day at time. I need to remember that I'm not facing this journey alone but with an awesomely supportive guy by my side. I need to remember that in most cases 90% will just have to do. I need to be okay with that. Actually, I am keeping that in mind right now as I'm finishing up our save-the-dates which I can't wait to share with you!
Did you feel overwhelmed when you first started planning? What is your go-to strategy for staying calm and focused when you are feeling stressed and overwhelmed? Did you have trouble enlisting the help of your friends, family, or even your fiancé for your wedding?
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