Introduction: What is Emotional Overwhelm?
Anxiety and overwhelm are some of the most common problems that plague our day-to-day lives. It can be hard to get out of bed, go to work, or focus on anything that is not the source of the anxiety. The feeling of being overwhelmed by one’s emotions can just stop you in your tracks. It can be triggered by any number of different situations, such as a traumatic experience, an intense argument, financial concerns, relationship difficulties or even just seeing someone else in emotional pain.
What Causes You to Feel Overwhelmed?
Stress is a natural response to the demands of our lives. It can be caused by anything from a deadline at work to a disagreement with your partner. When stress becomes chronic, it has negative effects on your physical and mental health.
The human brain is a powerful and intelligent machine, but it is not perfect. There are many problems that can affect its performance. It can only process so much information at any given time, which means that when we’re overloaded with stress, our brain struggles to do its job properly.
Stress has been shown to cause:
-Anxiety
-Depression
-Heart disease
-Weight gain
Types of Stress & Anxiety
Stress and anxiety levels can range from fairly mild to debilitating. The more severe the cases, the more help is needed. When you are stressed out, your mind and body experience many mental and physical symptoms. You feel irritable, angry, can’t sleep, get very tired easily, or have digestion problems. They may seem overwhelming in the moment but they won’t last forever.
Anxiety, on the other hand, is defined by persistent, excessive worries that just don’t go away even in the absence of a stressor. Anxiety is a feeling of unease, worry, and nervousness about something that hasn’t happened yet.
What are the 5 Best Ways to Counteract Emotional Overwhelm
1. The first step is – Identify what is causing those uncomfortable feelings. It could be a personal problem or a professional one.
2. Journaling For Distracted Minds – Why It’s Beneficial And How To Start Journaling Today!
Here are some of the benefits of journaling:
-It helps you get your thoughts out in a constructive way.
-It can help you feel more in control of your life.
-Journaling is a great way to track your moods and emotions, which can be helpful for anyone who is experiencing depression or anxiety.
-It’s an excellent way to explore and process feelings that come up during therapy sessions or when you talk to friends and family members.
3. Changing That Internal Dialog (Self Talk)
Most people don’t know how powerful the words we use on ourselves can be. We usually say things like “I’ll never be good enough for anything” or “I’m not smart enough for this job.” These self-defeating thoughts can lead to a vicious cycle that’s hard to break.
Consider this: the more we speak negatively about ourselves, the more we believe those negative things, and the harder it becomes to create positive change in our lives. We don’t realise it, but all of that negative self-talk seeps deep into our subconscious mind. This means that continuous self talk then becomes our belief system, which in turn becomes who we think we are.
The only way to break out of this cycle is by identifying what thoughts are. Once identified you’re then in the position to change those thoughts. Some examples might be. “I cant do this” or “I just can’t cope” will likely trigger those feelings of anxiety and overwhelm. Instead use more empowering language like, “Of course, I can do this, I’ve done it before”
4. Our Brains Are Not Built For Storing Information, Rather They’re Built To Process It.
Our brains are not like computer hard-drives that can store an infinite amount of information. Rather, they are constantly processing information. and, over time, “forgetting” information that no longer has any relevance, while also retaining and processing relevant information.
So, writing things down, making notes, and prioritising what’s important. can help your brain focus more easily on the task. It has also been proven that unfinished tasks interfere with one’s ability to complete tasks.
5. Stop Multi-Tasking
It may seem like multitasking would be a great way to get more done in less time, but this is not always true. In fact, multitasking can lead to losing focus and making more mistakes, which then can lead to stress, anxiety and overwhelm, after all, your brain can only complete one task at a time. Multitasking can also lead to forgetting what you have already completed. This often leads to a feeling of being overwhelmed and doing more work than needed, which then leads to frustration and procrastination.
6. Learn to Focus
The brain is a muscle. It needs to be trained. a good way to do this is to practice a little mindfulness for 5-10 minutes.
You can do this by focusing on your breath or an object in the room or even a mantra/sound that you can repeat in your head. Every time you become aware that you’re thinking just return to the breath over and over again. This can help settle the mind. We tend to have anything between 70,000 and 120,000 thoughts a day, how many of those thoughts are you aware of? You have to be aware of your thoughts to be able to change them. So, the more aware of your thoughts you become, the more effort you put into changing those thoughts the better you are going to feel. being more aware and mindful is a powerful way to reduce stress and maintain a healthy mind.
Conclusion
learn to manage your thinking by being more aware and mindful of what is streaming through your mind and changing those thoughts.
Focus on one thing at a time and do your best to finish any task you have started before moving on to the next task.
Start to process those thoughts by journaling, getting them out on paper helps you start making sense of the big, tough parts of life.
Read more about anxiety here: https://cheshirehypnotherapist.co.uk/anxiety/