Feeling Overwhelmed? Here Are 5 Effective Ways To Deal With It!

Overwhelmed is a condition where you feel you are unable to think clearly or finish things that you’ve started as optimal as you want to. Work routines that accumulate and many demands from work can be the ultimate causes why you might feel overwhelmed. If the feeling of being overwhelmed is not addressed properly, it can end up making you experience severe stress and burnout.

Overwhelmed can also occur due to various psychological factors, such as stress, trauma, excessive worry, and other things. When you feel overwhelmed, you will usually get angry easily and find it difficult to control your emotions. According to Dr. Romanoff, a clinical psychologist and professor from Yeshiva University, several signs can be recognized as a sign of feeling overwhelmed:

• Unable to think rationally
• Easily losing focus
• Often feel empty
• Have trouble completing tasks
• Often feel pessimistic and desperate.
• Often feel afraid and anxious
• Constantly crying

Why Do You Feel Overwhelmed?

The reason why you feel overwhelmed cannot be equated with others. Because people’s burdens and pressures are different. Therefore, it takes self-awareness to know what makes you stressed to the point of being overwhelmed. But there are a couple of common reasons why some people are feeling overwhelmed. Check out below for the list of common reasons that can be the ultimate reason why someone feels overwhelmed.

●  Having Too Many Tasks and Responsibilities

Perhaps you find yourself with lots of different roles and duties to fulfill, which is contributing to why you’re feeling overwhelmed. For example, you might be a working mom, who has to take care of household matters, children’s needs, and work responsibilities.

Balancing your personal and professional life might be harder than you think, and this can lead to emotional ups and downs as you need to be skilled at managing time and priorities. Aside from that, it is also important for you to be aware of your capacity when taking on tasks to avoid being overwhelmed.

●  Changes in Life

Life is always full of constant changes. It is nearly impossible for you to always be in the same situation. You might feel happy and content at times, but there will also be times when you feel sad or question your lie. Life can go in various directions, and these changes can sometimes make you feel overwhelmed.

● Traumatic Experiences

Experiencing trauma can lead to overwhelming feelings that happen each time you recall the traumatic events. There might be a trigger to those emotions that can make you remember the trauma that you’ve tried to forget over again.

How to Deal with Feeling Overwhelmed?

Constantly feeling overwhelmed can negatively impact your mental health and overall well-being. If you notice that you often experience this feeling, you can follow the best solutions below that we’ve gathered to help you deal with when feeling overwhelmed.

1. Acknowledge Your Emotion

Ignoring the overwhelming feeling that you’re experiencing won’t resolve any of the issues. It will only remain beneath the surface until it becomes too big to ignore.

If you want to deal with this feeling, it is a must for you to acknowledge and accept all the emotions you’re feeling, including the negative ones.

2. Pause and Take a Break

One of the simplest ways to address overwhelm is by taking a break from your busy routine. Make time to rest, and even consider having a vacation to effectively rejuvenate yourself. Aside from that you should also take time to disconnect from social media, as excessively consuming information from social media can contribute to fatigue and feeling overwhelmed.

3. Surround Yourself with Loved Ones

Overcoming overwhelm can also happen by seeking support from your loved ones. Don’t hesitate to share what’s on your mind, what you feel, and why you feel like that, with the people that you trust. It can be great if the person that you entrust can give valuable insight. But sometimes, you might not need a solution and just want to have someone to confide in. Being heard is the ultimate way that can help you to feel better.

At times you might also want to be soothed through physical closeness. When you’re feeling overwhelmed, you can consider asking for a hug from a friend, a partner, or your family member. A physical touch from your loved ones can help to lower stress levels and enhance your overall well-being. Thus, surrounding yourself with loved ones can be a very effective way to improve your mental well-being.

4. Focus On What You Can Control

Often you may find yourself fixating on things beyond your control. This can make it easier for you to feel stressed and overwhelmed. You might feel useless as you can’t change anything as you wish.

Instead of beating yourself up due to this uncontrollable situation, it is best if you only focus on aspects that you can control. For example your anger, disappointment, fear, all of the emotions that are within your control and you have the power to manage them.

5. Prioritize Self Care

Self-care can be done variously. One of the most effective ways you can do this is to engage in activities you enjoy. Reflect on what kind of activities can bring you happiness, and make time for that pursuit. Don’t only focus on work tasks, family problems, and other things in life. Make time to focus on yourself too, as you too are important. When you’re happy, it can positively impact those around you as well.

For example, if you’re a working mother, on the weekend instead of being elbow-deep in cleaning your house, you can hire a house cleaning service. Treat yourself to a free weekend, and focus on doing things that you like instead. For example, having a treatment at the salon, having a family outing, or even just enjoying the day by lounging in bed. These are the ultimate self-care activities that can give you lots of benefits, one of which is dealing with or preventing overwhelm.

These are some of the things that you can do to deal with overwhelming feelings. But if you feel no matter what you do, you still feel overwhelmed, it might be best to seek help from a professional. They can help you navigate your feelings and provide guidance on the best path forward.