5 ways to stop being overwhelmed

Overwhelmed, swamped, exhausted, troubled, spent are just a few of the words I am hearing when people describe how they currently feel. And its no surprise as there is a lot going on in the world right now. It doesn’t matter which lens you look through – global, local or internal, they each feel fractured and is why many of us are feeling overwhelmed.

The delicate part though is that for many, we have never lived through a period with so much uncertainty and therefore it is hard to predict when things will settle down. The good news is that we can learn how to get better with dealing with overwhelm.

5 step process to stop overwhelm

The first thing you want to do is  

1. Breathe

The quickest way to change your body’s state is to take 6 deep breathes. The breathe is always the first thing to change. When we take the time to control the way we breathe, we become in control of the state that we are in and switching to another state. As you do it think of someone or something you are grateful for. The reason why this is so important is because when your emotion is high, your logic is low, and so if you are in overwhelm, its even more stressful because you know you should be doing something but you can’t figure out what to do. This is because your logic is low, because your emotions are high.

2. Write down everything in your mind.

Get down everything that is currently in your mind onto paper, write down how you are feeling and why. When you start to write everything down, it allows your mind to release it and it can start to live on the piece of paper. It also allows you to see something, as most of us are visual learners and it allows us to start to work through it.

3. Identify what is your next best action you need to take.

Usually when your feeling overwhelmed your thinking of many different actions that you need to do over the coming days or weeks. Overwhelm happens because we are thinking about too many things at once. You can’t possibly do everything at once. We need to tackle things one by one, which is why this step is so important. Now look at your list and pick one thing that you can achieve immediately. Make sure you choose something that you know you have the manpower and resources to achieve without any further research or steps. This is the thing you are going to tackle first. But not just yet.

4. Get your body moving

Next we want to get our body moving. Usually when we are feeling overwhelmed, our bodies are physically stuck. We are paralysed and unable to take action. so you need some form of forward momentum in your life. We need to show our brains that we are ready to take action. Any sort of movement is fine. Have a shower, stretch, punch the air, jog on the spot.

5. Take action one by one.

Start with the thing you noted down at step 3. This now becomes your prime focus and is the only thing you need to focus on. You want to narrow your focus so you can expand your capacity. Once you have completed this one task. Go back to your original list and choose the next most important task that is on your list. If you can get really good at following this process your overwhelm will get smaller and smaller and smaller and you will feel more empowered to tackle tasks one by one and start thriving more in life.

Good luck and don’t forget to reach out if you have identified that you need a life coach in your corner to help you achieve the changes you are after.

That is it from me today, I hope you have a calm and restful day, one that brings you joy. One free from anxiety and as Positivity and Happiness are Contagious… Start your own Happiness ripple today!