We’ve all been there: You’ve been running nonstop, constantly feeling three items behind on your to-do list from where you need to be, and the tasks keep piling up.  You’re feeling overwhelmed and you just want to break down, but you know you’ve got to power through — at least for the next few minutes, hours or days.

Kate Hudson kicks off her new book, Pretty Happy, with a story about feeling that same way when she was 19 or 20 (only she was on a plane, headed to a new job after spending months away from family and friends — so slightly less glamorous than, you know, feeling buried alive by TPS Reports). She called her mom in a panic, who told her to take a deep breath and…squint.

“Squint your eyes and imagine you’re seeing everything around you for the first time,” her mom, Goldie Hawn, instructs.

Let your vision blur, turning everything fuzzy, and inspect the things around you. Suddenly, everything around you looks different — a little stranger, a little less familiar. The simple act pulls you out of your head.

“Sometimes we just need to slow things down so we can reframe — our situation, our thoughts and feelings, even our lives. And not to take everything so seriously,” Hudson writes. “You’ve been working without a pause and your brain is on overdrive. The situation is what feels out of control. You are okay.”

It may seem like a subtle difference, but it’s worth trying out for yourself. When you’re on the verge of moonwalking out of your office, middle fingers blazing in a burst of “I’m not gonna take this anymore!” angst, try it. Maybe the day won’t seem so awful after all. Or maybe it is just as awful, but you realize you can sort it out — eventually.