If you’re reading this post, you may be feeling a little overwhelmed, worried, stressed, or anxious. I understand how that can feel and the importance of being able to deal with it. That’s why today I am going to share with you some tools so that you’ll know what to do if you feel overwhelmed with life.
Watch the video below:
What causes a person to feel overwhelmed?
Think of it as taking in too much “stuff” into our mind, which impacts the way we feel emotionally. Overwhelm occurs when we are unable to process or filter these things that are happening, and so it becomes, overwhelming.
Overwhelm occurs from 2 places. Internally or externally. However, they are closely interlinked.
Internal overwhelm
A common way that people feel internally overwhelmed is from consistent negative thought patterns. They may be related to the external world, but they are created internally. We begin to worry about future possibilities, focus on problems and challenges, or get lost down a negative spiral of self-limiting thoughts.
It can be a tough loop to deal with if we don’t have strategies to overcome them.
External overwhelm
External overwhelm is everywhere around us in our daily lives; the things that happen in life. Spilling coffee down your work shirt, realizing you ran out of toilet paper, getting caught up in a traffic jam, being late for work, having a health scare, and a million emails to respond to.
When we’re having a bad day, things seem to get worse and pile up; this is why we feel overwhelmed. We simply cannot handle the array of things.
Don’t worry, we have a solution to help you out.
How do I stop feeling overwhelmed?
The million-dollar question. It’s fair to say that overwhelm is likely to occur in our lives no matter what. But we can find ways to better handle situations so that we feel it less often. And when we do feel overwhelmed, we can feel at peace knowing that we have some tools to help.
Step 1
Write down all of the things that are on your mind.
For example:
- Taxes
- Work schedule
- Responding to emails
- Grocery shopping
- A Friends birthday card
- Phoning your family
- Booking a dentist appointment
- Taking your car to the garage
- Ordering some products off Amazon
- Paying your rent
- Planning a holiday
Step 2
Grab a pen and paper, then replicate the drawing below.
Now you have 4 squares labelled in the order of most important to least important. Next, transfer over the list of items you have so that you can focus on the highest priority tasks to do. You do this by putting each task into the appropriate column. And here’s where you need to be honest with yourself. What are the most important things?
Let go of everything else until you have done what is most important.
What about the other stuff
The exercise above will help you with all of the internal things and external things that you need to do. However, it isn’t going to stop external things from going wrong in your life. Unfortunately, that’s part of life.
For that, we must find ways to master our emotions and gain self-control. There are many ways to do this. Here are some examples.
- Meditation
- Journaling
- Exercising
- Practicing mindfulness
- Gratitude practice
- A walk in nature
- Breathwork
- Being able to accept what life offers us
By focusing on wellness practices, it equips us to better deal with stress and overwhelm. When we feel in control of our state, we feel at ease.
What to do if you feel overwhelmed with life
Feeling overwhelmed is a sign that self-care would be of tremendous benefit. Use it as a sign to slow down and find ways for you to best handle the situation. Ask yourself some questions.
What do I need?
Is there anything that I can let go of?
What is the most important thing right now?
The best thing to do if you feel overwhelmed with life is to take a moment and breathe. Focus on whatever tools you want to use to clear your head and center yourself. No challenges or problems will ever successfully be resolved from a place where you don’t feel great.
If you want more from your life and feel like you’re stuck, you can apply for a discovery call to see how I can help you in your journey.