Feeling overwhelmed is a common and well-recognized symptom of stress, which affects a significant portion of the global population. It often arises from the perception that stress exceeds one’s ability to cope. When experiencing overwhelm, you may feel like you have too many tasks at hand, not enough time to complete them, or be completely drained of energy.
If you are overwhelmed, you may experience other negative emotions simultaneously, like anxiety, irritability, anger, or depression. Luckily, you can take steps to manage feeling overwhelmed, like changing your thoughts and habits, engaging in various stress-relieving activities, and speaking to a friend.
Strategies to Manage Overwhelming Feelings
1. Identify What Is Causing You to Feel Overwhelmed
First, try to identify the source of what is causing the overwhelm. Think about what areas of your life are contributing to your stress. Are you feeling overwhelmed at work, at home, at college, or in your relationships?
Now, consider what is particularly causing you to feel overwhelmed in those areas of your life. Write down the causes so you can have a clear idea of your triggers.
2. Accept Your Feelings
One of the best strategies to manage overwhelming feelings is to accept your feelings. Neglecting or denying your overwhelm likely isn’t helpful. It will just bubble under the surface until you are left with no choice but to face and deal with it.
Instead, admit the fact that you are feeling overwhelmed, and accept any negative thoughts circulating in your mind. Try not to judge yourself for what you are feeling. This nonjudgmental recognition also helps diminish feelings of shame or guilt connected with stress.
3. Clean Up Your Surroundings
The phrase “outer order, inner calm” highlights the connection between environment and mental clarity. When you feel overwhelmed, cleaning the area around you reinstates order to a little corner of your universe and helps you to move forward.
You don’t need to clean your entire office. Restrict yourself to things that are nearby. File loose papers, put caps on your pens, and wipe away dust or dirt.
This sense of order can help you feel like you have accomplished something and help you to focus on the task at hand, not the mess around you. Moreover, this activity will help you divert your mind from the triggers of feeling overwhelmed.
4. Reconnect to the Inner Wisdom of Your Body
There is a well-known psychological link between heightened emotions and reduced rational thinking. So, when you feel overwhelmed, don’t try to think your way out.
Use the mind-body connection to help regulate your nervous system. Start to track your body. Describe quietly the sensations you feel: I am feeling heaviness, tightness, and throbbing in my stomach. Do these sensations move, or are they static?
Follow where the sensations are telling you while breathing into these places. Notice areas of your body that feel more neutral or comforting. As you reconnect with your body, you may find that any negative feelings, like being overwhelmed, may begin to ease.
What seemed like a disastrous or life-threatening moment is now just a calmer space in time. You have now adjusted your nervous system to a more synchronized state and can now use your rational thinking more effectively to help you to manage the overwhelm. You now have more clarity to prioritize what matters most and take steps toward accomplishing the tasks at hand.
5. Manage Your Impulses
Working on something you don’t enjoy makes it easy to get diverted by every little thing. You have a song stuck in your head and are urged to find it on the internet. You remember you planned for a good dinner tonight and find yourself scrolling through recipes hours before a vital work deadline.
But instead of following each little impulse, which can throw you into a whirlpool of procrastination, keep a notebook next to you and write down your impulses as you have them.
Accepting the thought, even if you don’t act on the impulse to find the answer, can be enough to conquer it. If you feel extra confident, think about it instead of writing it down. Sometimes, simply acknowledging the impulse reduces its intensity.
6. Practice Meditation
Meditation involves focusing your attention on something specific, such as your breath, sounds, or sensations of your body. It can help you to become more aware and less reactive. Several studies have also found that regular meditation helps reduce stress, anxiety, and depression.
If you are a novice, find a tutorial for guided meditation online, use a meditation app, or talk to an instructor. As you practice, thoughts will unavoidably come up; let them pass without being judgmental.
Read More: 9 Tips for Effective Workload Management
7. Accept What You Cannot Do or Control
You can plan, organize, and do all you want, but at some point, you will face something you can’t do or control. When this happens, the most helpful response is acceptance. Complete acceptance doesn’t mean surrendering.
It means accepting ambiguity and uncontrollability without struggle or complaint and maintaining what you can do instead of dwelling on what you can’t. When you start to drive, you completely accept that an irresponsible driver may hit you no matter how well you drive.
Yet you still do it because you want to get to your destination quickly. When you can’t meet a deadline without risking your mental health, you can completely accept that you will be late and that you may disappoint some people because your well-being is more valuable.
8. Take a Break and Do Something Fun
Take your mind off of whatever is causing stress by doing something you enjoy. Watch a movie or TV show, read a book, listen to music, go for a walk, or spend time with friends or family.
Doing this and remembering there is more to life than whatever is causing you stress could also give you some new perspective.
9. Consult a Therapist
If nothing works and you find yourself struggling to manage feelings of overwhelm, you may benefit from a session with a professional therapist specializing in stress management.
They can help you to recognize the triggers for your stress, modify negative thinking patterns, and show healthier ways to manage your feelings.
What Causes Overwhelm?
There are so many causes of stress and overwhelm, such as:
- Professional Responsibilities
- Relationship Difficulties
- Highly stressful experiences
- Financial Uncertainties
- Political Problems
- Environmental Issues
- Health Worries
- Global pandemics
Emotional challenges can be more intense for highly sensitive people living with mental health conditions, such as:
- Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
- Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
- Anxiety disorders
- Autism
- Mood Disorders
Each person has a different tolerance for stress. What overwhelms one person may not bother another. But there are specific strategies to manage overwhelming feelings that everyone can try to decrease the amount of overwhelm experienced daily and in every stressful moment.
