The Antidote to Overwhelm

Overwhelm. It seems to be a common experience for many.

It would be easy to attribute this commonality to the global pandemic and all of its accompanying challenges. Overwhelm, however, was present long before the pandemic. While I can’t put a definitive date to when “overwhelm” was first noted as a part of the human condition, it feels fair to say that it’s been around and recognized for a long time, and that there is a link between overwhelm and carrying too much.

What do I mean by “how much”?

It could be related to the length of a to-do list.
It could be a function of how much emotional strain is present.
It could be either a tangible list of things, or a less tangible list of experiences.

Often, “too much” is felt in the mind, and is experienced as “too much to think about”. Even if the thoughts are related to tasks, it’s the thinking of those tasks that causes the overwhelm. In a nutshell, then, holding too many thoughts can lead to overwhelm, eventually.

Nobody is immune to this correlation. That being said, what’s too much for one person may be quite manageable for another. Which, of course, exacerbates the challenge of dealing with overwhelm, because as human beings we are very good at playing the comparison game. When I compare my extensive list of thoughts to yours, if I see that you seem to be handling your list just fine, it can be tempting for me to ignore my pending overwhelm in order to “look good” or to “look strong” or to “look capable”. Goodness knows, I wouldn’t want to appear less capable than anyone else, right?

The problem, of course, is that once I succumb to overwhelm, I am not very capable of much. It’s a self-defeating approach, if you will.

So, what’s the solution? Simply put, the antidote to overwhelm is choice.

When you find your mind swimming with thoughts, with ideas, with things to do, the way through the overwhelm is to pick one thought to focus on. One thing to do, one thing to think about, one thing to deal with. And then, having chosen and addressed that one thing, then choose another.

I know it seems quite simple. And there may be part of you that resists the simple, believing that the complexity of overwhelm requires a more complex solution. I would invite you to let go of that idea. Because in the end, simplifying things is also a way to deal with overwhelm. So, make a simple choice; focus on that choice. And feel the overwhelm dissipate.