Feeling Overwhelmed? It’s Not What You Think

Many studies have indicated that cases for anxiety and panic attacks have risen considerably from 2009 to 2015.

About 55% of Americans are all the time overwhelmed by their daily struggles. And around 78% are either clueless or too reluctant to deal with all the piled-up clutter in their lives.

Today let’s dive deep into the subject of overwhelm to give you a better understanding of the subject and help you live a life full of abundance and fulfillment.

What Is Overwhelm? What Does It Mean To Feel Overwhelmed?

At times, we all are so consumed by life goals that we tend to ignore the unsettling energy fostering in us. We get obsessed with our quest to achieve success only to end up neglecting our mental well being, and of those who are around us.

Overwhelm is a lingering feeling of being stressed out and stretched thin. It is a belief system that we have bought into wrongfully. Overwhelm is a choice we make based on a belief we think is true. But it is not.

Overwhelm can feel like you have so much on your plate, and you don’t know what to do next. Or it might feel like no matter what you do you’re going to disappoint someone. This constant barrage of negative thoughts robs us of our happiness, health, and well being. That’s why it’s very important to start understanding overwhelm for what it truly is.

What Causes You To Feel Overwhelmed?

There are several psychological and behavioral factors involved that help you to feel overwhelmed. They may be mere life habits that you may have adopted over time. For example:

• Not Knowing “How” And “When” To Say “No”

You might be a giver or a pleaser who doesn’t like to say no, or perhaps, you may just not be comfortable declining somebody’s request. This behavior usually leads to a toxic imbalance in your relationships with your loved ones. To protect your energy, you must learn to say “no” to things that you don’t want to commit.

• Excessively Worrying About Other People’s Opinion Of Us

Continuously seeking validation from others will result in feeling overwhelmed. There’s no reason why you won’t succumb to negative thoughts about yourself. It is crucial to make peace with your past and learn to love yourself first before anything.

• Chronophobia and Other Chronic Anxiety Disorders

Most of the time, people suffer from acute anxiety disorders like Chronophobia, which prevents them from living life to the fullest. Chronophobia is the irrational fear of the future that leads people to confusion and uncertainty.

• Inherited Behavioral Patterns

As a child, you may have unknowingly adopted the typical symptoms of overwhelm from your busy and stressed-out parents. You could have easily picked up the belief that this is just how adults are supposed to be.

It all boils down to our core belief of what we believe is right. So, we keep on taking action to the point of exhaustion or when our emotions get the best of us because we don’t how to process them.

What Are The Symptoms Of Being Overwhelmed?

A person may show the following set of behavioral patterns or feelings when feeling overwhelmed:

Lack of productivity

Confusion or indecisiveness

Repeating the same mistakes again and again

Always anxious and nervous about the simplest of things

Feeling stuck and hopeless

Constantly experiencing negative emotions like disappointment, frustration, and shame.

How do you deal with overwhelm?

If you want to stop feeling overwhelmed, like for good forever, you’ll need to see overwhelm for the lie that it is. You need to make a different choice in your belief system.

The real truth is that you do not have to be overwhelmed or stressed out if you don’t choose to be. Sadly, we’ve been taught otherwise our entire life.

When you understand that this is just something you’ve bought into, you’ll also realize that you can change it by simply having a new belief. Your new belief is going to make you to think differently about overwhelm.

And when you think differently, you’re going to feel different. When you feel different, you’ll act different. And when you take a different action, you’ll start getting a different result.

Step Back & Reflect

You simply need to start by relaxing and indulging in meaningful reflections. And while you reflect, you don’t need to be judgmental or harsh on yourself.

Relax and take a deep breath. And imagine your life without overwhelm. You need to have a strong belief that you can also have a life of utmost harmony and abundance just like the successful people around you.

Imagine and believe that you can enjoy your daily grind and yet be allowed to feel refreshed and energized. You need to channel positive energy to live life with love and compassion.

This change of attitude will help remove the clutter and toxicity in your life. It will help make space for things that were pushed aside like quiet, love, and gratitude.

Find your own personal truth

Finally, work your way into deciding whether you have to continue working in this BS lie that it’s necessary to feel stressed and overwhelmed as you go through your day.

It’s about your personal truth. How do you want to work? How do you want to feel each day?

Replace this enduring lie with your own belief system. Allow yourself the time to heal and make peace with your past and present. Indulge in the blessings of today rather than anticipating things over which you have no control.

You get to choose how to live each day and not buy into the lie of overwhelm.

Conclusion

Remember, overwhelm is nothing more than a belief system we’ve learned. And if it’s something we’ve learned, we can relearn it, or we can change it. Overwhelm is a crappy feeling— a horrible state of being where we perform far less than our potential.

There’s much joy when you show up energized and refreshed. And you show up ready to contribute, you show up for yourself, you show up for your people.

You just need to believe it is possible for you. If you believe you can have joy, abundance, and peace— the energy around you will conspire to turn it into reality.

If you found this article helpful, consider joining Goal Achievers, which is our coaching community where we dive deep into a topic relevant to living a full and extraordinary life each month. We focus on just one topic at a time so the process isn’t overwhelming and we help you take small powerful steps forward towards the life of your dreams. If you are a business owner, you can also join us at Inner Circle, our business coaching program where we take you by the hand to help you eliminate frustration, stress, and overwhelm from your business so you can achieve the results you really want.

You can also pick up a copy of the Best Planner Ever, or my book The Joy Guide.

xo

Jennifer

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