When you are feeling overwhelmed
I hate that feeling when life is just too much. Sometimes it seems like everything is going wrong and you might melt down at any moment. Sometimes life looks great but the pressure to keep up with everything is crushing. You’re overwhelmed as soon as you open your eyes in the morning but you just don’t know what to do.
First, let me say that you’re doing better than you think you are. When we are overwhelmed, the narrative of “I’m not enough and that’s why I’m overwhelmed” can often come with it. Those words can choke out our ability to care for ourselves well. I know life feels crazy, and the idea of slowing down might feel impossible. However, I want to invite you to take my hand, take a deep breath, and let’s find you some peace.
We live in an era where all day long our phones ding and vibrate to prompt us to check apps that relentlessly remind us that everyone is living their best life. (Okay not everyone is living their best life but it feels that way right!?) It’s so easy to believe the lie that the content we see on social media is better than our reality. When you spend too much time comparing yourself to what you see other people doing; you’re at risk of trying to live up to something that was never meant to be apart of your story. You are meant for a beautiful purpose that is unique to you. It is impossible to define what your life should look like based on photos and 30 second tiktoks. Trying to live up to an idealized version of reality, leaves you running a hundred miles an hour to keep up with something that often isn’t real. It also leaves you lost, exhausted, and down right overwhelmed. So what do we do about this? And how do you live the story that’s meant for you?
In sessions with my clients, I often use the example of a cup being filled and emptied. It’s a picture I use to help my clients express their overwhelmed state of mind. Our cups get filled up through life giving activities and they get emptied through life draining activities or situations. You know that something is lifegiving when you feel peaceful or joyful afterwards. You know that something is draining when you find yourself wishing you could mentally or emotionally rest afterwards. It is incredibly overwhelming when our lives get overrun with life draining things that empty our cups but there isn’t enough life-giving things to fill us up again. It’s also incredibly draining when we are trying to keep up with what we see around us rather than focusing on what we actually need to live a healthy life. This feeling could lead us to believe we are broken because we’re overwhelmed, but really you’re just out of balance and you can feel whole again.
A helpful exercise would be writing down a list of everything you need to do in the next week and then separating them into columns of what is life giving and what is life draining. Then find balance in your days. If you have a ton of draining things coming up, it is so important to build yourself back up with life giving things sprinkled in between. Maybe you can even ask yourself if some things can be removed from your week altogether because you just don’t have the mental space for it right now. For example, if you’re a busy mom who has a million errands to run and a house to clean but you haven’t had time to pick up a good book in months. I wonder if you could let the laundry wait an extra 10 minutes so you can pour into yourself with a little reading time? Or maybe ask a friend to pick up your kids from school one day so that you can score 20 minutes of reading! Life might be crazy right now but you’re not meant to pour out of an empty cup forever. And you are still a good and successful person even when you need a break.
I am so sorry that you’re feeling overwhelmed. I can only imagine the weight of everything that you are carrying today. I’m sorry if feeling overwhelmed has led you to believe that you aren’t enough, because that’s not true. You are a human who is worthy of balance and rest in your life. I hope this post has given you a next step to find that balance and feel like yourself again.
