Costco-Snacking Through Life

A New Tactic for Managing Overwhelm?

Life is A Lot right now. But then again, when is it ever not? Sages and gurus love to point out that life’s journey is fraught with hills and valleys, peaks and plummets, must have the sour to recognize the sweet. In other words, life is like taking a tasting waltz through Costco.

Ah, the allure of a year’s supply of toilet paper PLUS free snacks!

When my kids were little, they loved trips to Costco if for no other reason than the freebies. Say what you will about big box stores, there’s no denying the value they provide for cash-strapped young families, especially on product tasting days. Booths set at the end of select aisles offered tiny paper cupfuls of all sorts of goodies they’d never tried before. Or that they’d certainly turned their noses up had I, their loving mother, tried to offer.

Toasted kale chips? Gimme. Nom nom.

Spinach gummies? Oh yeah!!

Spaghetti sauce with the words “Packed with hidden veggies!” right there on the label? Can’t get enough.

Of course, these healthy examples were the exceptions to the eagerly-anticipated kiddo fare: Pirate’s Booty, yogurt-on-the-go tubes, anything from the bakery. (The latter being my favorite samples, it must be said.) Even if I’d just fed them, my girls would sit in the oversized cart on their best behavior like a pair of ginormous baby birds waiting for treats to be delivered to their tiny gaping maws. In typical Mother Of The Year fashion, I’d let my rugrats toss back the equivalent of toddler shots in hopes they’d fill up enough to avoid shelling out the ridiculous buck-fifty for lunch (has the price for the Costco hot dog-and-Coke combo even changed over the last two-plus decades?).

You had me at Chocolate Chunk🤎 Photo by Dex Ezekiel

The funny thing is, the snacking tour often provided a somewhat balanced diet, especially compared to the food court menu. And isn’t that what we’re all seeking? Balance.

Once we’re full-fledged adults, it’s so easy for us to tip our scales. Not in the Weight Watchers weekly weigh in meaning, more like in the overdoing it sense. Over-working. Over-extending. Over-exercising. Over-scheduling. Over-exposing (yet another food shot for the ‘gram?). Over-politicizing. Over-catastrophizing. Over-escapisming. Okay, pretty sure that last one isn’t a word, but the gist is there. The passion and commitment of an “all in” mentality may be admirable, but that ethos doesn’t leave much space for balance.

Lately it feels as if everything that starts out as a good idea gets hijacked. I’m thinking of greenwashing, toxic positivity, toxic self-help culture. So blabbering on about balance is neither revolutionary nor prescriptive, especially in an era when forces beyond our control put their little thumbs on the end of that scale, sneaky bastards, and don’t let up. Which makes us feel like we’re destined to overdo just to keep up. Which makes us overwrought. Which leads to burn out and depletion and – damn!—vicious cycle.

I’ve experienced this recently during our transition off the boat. The logistics of moving can wallop anyone with a To Do list long as the Amazon River. Doing so when one (by choice) doesn’t have a next home to move into, when the home moving out of is surrounded by water, when the “car” is staying behind—because, let’s face it, it’s not a car it’s a small boat too—so rental cars and U-Haul vans are an added item to be ticked off that ever-growing list… Did I say life is A Lot these days?

I hit overwhelm about a month ago and I addressed it in the healthiest manner possible. Dissociation. Just toss all the balls into the air and hope they juggle themselves. But I figuratively smacked myself in the head and realized attacking one item a day was doable. Some days, I had enough energy and wherewithal I could add another task, maybe two. Woohoo, a three-task completion in one day.

Focusing on things that matter to me outside of this big life transition has helped too. Friends and family visits, either phone calls or in person, is non-negotiable and has helped keep me balanced. But mostly, not feeling like I have to do all the things all the time all at once has allowed me to breathe, which allows me to rebalance, refocus, and—lo and behold—get to juggling the dozens of damn balls over my head. Bonus: I haven’t killed my husband yet; in fact, we haven’t really even lost our tempers. (That’s a biggie improvement for this control freak, lemme tell ya.)

I’m not there yet, but working on it. Photo by Peggy Anke

If overwhelm is your baseline these days, I offer you an alternative approach. Try taking snack-sized bites of life. Some morsels will be scrummy (looking at you, muffins big as a French bulldog’s head and two-foot-diameter apple pie). Some tidbits more like a bitter pill. But nibbling away at life makes the living more manageable. Less overwhelming. Maybe helps us stay present, aware of when we’ve bitten off more than a mouthful, and allows us the time to step back, take a break, regroup, before the next course is served.

Just something to chew on as we all keep Moving Forward. If you need me, I’ll be in the queue for free chocolate chunk cookies.

What’s your favorite Costco or Sam’s Club handout? And/or how do you maintain balance?