Have you ever felt overwhelmed?
- The kind of “overwhelmed” where you’ve made multiple commitments and you simply don’t know where to start in terms of keeping any of them.
- Things are going wrong in life and you have an overwhelming feeling of “not being able to take anymore”. One more thing and you’ll just, “snap”.
- You have a project due, you’re experiencing analysis paralysis, and don’t even know where to start.
- You’re fearful of losing a job or relationship.
That list could go on and I know that we have all experienced this feeling of being overwhelmed in at least some fashion or another, at some point. So, how do we work through it? How do we overcome it?
How do we break through our overwhelmed feelings?
The most important thing you can do in any situation where you’re feeling completely overwhelmed is to breathe. You cannot allow yourself to panic. When we panic, we make mistakes. We stop responding well and instead we just react to the stressors.
The worst thing to happen is rarely the situation itself…rather it is the situation paired with our terrible response! Imagine how much more smoothly your life would play out if you just took that extra moment to breathe and self-assess.
Quiet your thoughts.
It may sound silly, but ask yourself outloud if a given situation is worth panicking over. Better yet, ask yourself:
Will an emotional response would help or hurt the situation?
If you are having a surgery, do you want the doctor to be “freaking out” that there’s a possibility of your dying? If your house is on fire, do you want the firefighter just as scared as you are? Of course not. These are extreme examples but one of the reasons the doctor and firefighter don’t panic is that they have trained for exactly this situation. Maybe you are a doctor, firefighter or some other high-stress professional or maybe you have a pretty regular life…either way, whatever stress comes will feel very real to you.
Never apologize for your feelings.
I’ve never liked the philosophy of, “You think you have it bad? Well so and so has this…”
I believe that type of thinking invalidates what you are going through. Your issues are real to you and from your perspective, they are a big deal. While we should all be grateful, don’t ever apologize for your feelings.
What I do suggest is this: just like the doctor or firefighter, you are already trained to deal with what comes your way. You cannot control the initial stimulus but you can control your response. Respond well. Take the moment to breathe and know that losing your ability to respond well will not help in any way. It can and will only make things worse.
As I’ve had a personally trying month or so, I can absolutely say that taking the time to practice is essential. It’s so easy to feel “selfish” for taking time to myself but it’s the only way that I can present the best version of me to whatever is in front of me. Whatever happens is going to happen. The surgery is scheduled. The fire is blazing. There is no benefit to worrying about it. Do your best to accept what is and respond well to get things back on track!
You can overcome any overwhelmed feeling you may have and live a happy, fulfilled life. I believe in you. Believe in yourself!