Everybody can feel overwhelmed, however there are people who get more easily overwhelmed than others.
Recently, I’ve been so overwhelmed, and I felt really bad about it. I believe it’s important to talk about this and hopefully this helps you take action on how to get out of feeling overwhelmed.
Listen to this episode of Journey To Happy for my experience with overwhelm and 4 steps to get out of it.
What Does Overwhelm Mean?
By definition, overwhelm means to be completely overcome or taken over. Sometimes people feel overwhelmed by emotion, and this can be a positive or negative experience, depending on the emotion. In this particular context, overwhelm means the negative.
Are You Easily Overwhelmed?
Personally, I am not easily overwhelmed. It’s not my personality, but sometimes I get caught off guard. However for some people, they are easily overwhelmed. An example are some of my Type A personality clients. Type A people are very organized, ambitious, impatient, and highly competitive. Though it may sound like they’ve got it all together, the downside of it is they can be easily overwhelmed when things go sideways. This is when I intervene.
Steps To Get Out Of Overwhelm
- Awareness – Notice and acknowledge that you’re indeed feeling overwhelmed. When you notice and accept that you are in this situation, it allows you to take action. You need to have an intention to work on being overwhelmed, to stop and pause.
- Delegation – Most people who are easily overwhelmed are perfectionists. They want to do things on their own because they’re mindful of how they want things done exactly. However, this often causes burnt out and being overwhelmed. If you are this person, you should be open to delegating tasks to others. This way, your workload is lessened and you feel less overwhelmed.
- Not Everything Is A Priority – When you’re swamped with work, you can be easily overwhelmed. You should learn to prioritize and not do everything at the same time. You can create a list and do things according to urgency.
- Lower Your Standards – If you’re used to doing things in a particular way but don’t have enough time, you should be okay with making adjustments. If it means lowering your standards for the time being, then go with it.
Final Advice
Overwhelm is natural. Whether you’re someone who is easy or not easily overwhelmed, everyone does at some point.
Take a break. When you feel overwhelmed, stop what you’re doing and change the scenery if you must. It’s a matter of taking your mind off the feeling of overwhelm, distract yourself, and reset.
Again, overwhelm is unavoidable, but there are ways to deal with it. The lesson here is to acknowledge the feeling and be open to the steps you can take to get out of the overwhelm.
I hope this was helpful! If you liked this episode, please leave a review, share it with others and come hang out with me on Instagram!