Navigating Life When You Feel Overwhelmed
Feeling overwhelmed is a funny emotion as it's not always a bad thing. And like every other emotion, we feel it's just part of life but that doesn't mean it's always easy to deal with when life is already busy and hectic. September was a little bit of a funny month for me, it was a great month for sure. But there were a lot of points where I felt seriously overwhelmed and here are the best ways I found to navigate life around the emotion.
WHAT'S MAKING YOU FEEL OVERWHELMED?
No matter what you do life is busy and there are so many factors that can lead to the sense of being overwhelmed. And there are so many things that we can't negotiate and just have to tackle in the best we can. But so often there are things that are in our control and can be navigated in a different way to make it easier to deal with. The source of those overwhelming feelings might not always be obvious but figuring out what it is so important. Once you know the source then you can make a plan of action to tackle it.
USE THE FEELING TO YOUR ADVANTAGE
For me, I find feeling overwhelmed is very much like feeling scared. In the very early stages before it manifests it can be something that can be manipulated into something to use to your advantage. This is something I try to do in my work life all the time because I'm a one woman show. I do absolutely every single thing on my own with 0 outside input so it's all too easy for my workload to leave me feeling overwhelmed. So I manipulate it and let it become something that motivates me and really pushes my productivity levels.
YOU'RE NOT WEAK FOR FEELING OVERWHELMED
When the sense of being overwhelmed isn't positive and isn't something that cab be manipulated to our benefit it's a pretty terrible feeling. I think it's all too easy to be cruel to yourself and ask yourself why you can't handle everything but no one in life handles everything perfectly. The internet especially is a big part of this as it makes it seem like everyone is doing an amazing job and deals with everything like a pro but that's far from the reality of it. And you're allowed to feel overwhelmed, it doesn't mean you're weak or lazy. It's just another emotion and they're all part of life.
HAVE SOME TIME TO YOURSELF
Maybe it's because I'm an introvert but whenever I'm around other people and absorbing all their information I find it can easily overload my brain. Having time to yourself isn't always an option especially when you have a family or live with other people. But even if it's just 10 minutes to have a shower or going to gym class. Just having that time with your own thoughts and filtering away the things that don't really matter is so important. I completely understand that having a little bit of time to yourself a luxury for a lot of people but if it's something you can have then definitely make the most out of it. Here are a few things that I love to do by myself to let my brain almost reset; exercise, take my dog for a walk, having a trip into town and reading.
REST & MAKE A PLAN OF ACTION
Much like having time to yourself having a good nights sleep isn't always feasible. However, when you're overwhelmed, feeling stressed and worried it can take it's tole on your sleep pattern. When you're not having enough sleep and you feel constantly exhausted everything that's causing you some amount of stress can feel 100x worse. It's all too tempting when you're feeling a sense of panic and being overwhelmed. Much like having time to yourself having a good night's sleep isn't always feasible. However, when you're overwhelmed, stressed and worried it can really take its toll on you. And when you're not having enough sleep and you feel constantly exhausted everything that's causing you to feel that way can feel 100x worse. It's something that's probably been ingrained into our mind for years but getting a good night's sleep and looking at something with a fresh and rested perspective can change everything. Something else I also like to do when I feel overwhelmed is to make a plan of action, no matter what it is. And there are some things in life that happen and no matter how much we want to try and prepare for them we can't and just have to take them in our stride. But there are a lot of things where can make a plan of action of how to approach them and it can make all the difference in the world to how you feel. It's something I do a lot and even just taking those 5 minutes to slow down and critically think about something can make a huge difference.
