As someone with ADHD, I’m certainly no stranger to feeling overwhelmed. But the truth is that anyone and everyone can feel like they’re struggling at one point or another, and research suggests that nearly half of us report feeling overwhelmed every so often.
It can be tempting to push these feelings aside and just try to get on with things, but feeling overwhelmed can develop into something more. Stress and anxiety, anger and irritability, and even panic attacks can result from a failure to handle these feelings.
And what’s especially frustrating about feeling overwhelmed is that it can happen at any time. We can’t always control whether or not we feel overwhelmed, but what we can do is control how we handle these feelings. Through improved management techniques, feelings of being overwhelmed may still temporarily cause us to pause, but they shouldn’t stop us from achieving our goals. Even though it’s pouring with rain, we should still be able to see what’s ahead. These 5 tips can help make things clearer:
1. Acceptance
Think about all the previous times that you’ve felt overwhelmed. You might have fought endlessly with your feelings, but has it ever done any good? Probably not. The truth is that it’s actually completely normal to feel overwhelmed sometimes. New situations especially can trigger the body’s stress response – it’s what keeps us alert and on our toes so we’re ready for anything. By accepting that feeling overwhelmed is a normal and shared experience, we’re more likely to acknowledge what’s happening, less likely to fight these feelings, and we may be more open to trying new coping techniques.
2. Break it Down
Many people often feel overwhelmed because there’s simply too much going on all at once. However, if you actually break each stressor down into their own bitesize chunks, you might see that, individually, these things aren’t actually worth getting worried about. It’s a bit like the difference between encountering a friendly swan on your walk around the lake, and having your path blocked by an entire bevy. In large groups, non-threatening things can appear scarier than they actually are. Try to treat each stressor separately, rather than grouping all of your worries together into a single group.
3. Ask Yourself… ‘So What?’
One of the most important mantras to tell yourself… ‘So what?’. As humans, we’re naturally creative, and we have a tendency to elaborate and build things up into bigger problems than they really are. So what if you don’t meet your goals? So what if you don’t get everything done? What’s the worst that could happen? A worst case scenario, for example, is that someone may be fired for missing a deadline. But is this really a problem, or is it an opportunity to ask why that role wasn’t right for them, and think about where they’d be better placed? Turn challenges into growth opportunities.
4. Put Yourself First
One of the biggest mistakes that people make when they feel overwhelmed is that they put their tasks above themselves. If you’re up against a deadline, for example, it’s natural to focus all your energy on meeting that deadline, sacrificing your needs in order to get things done. But can you really get things done if you’re not equipped – physically and emotionally – to do them? It’s as simple as this: nothing will get done if you don’t have what you need to do it. Give yourself breaks, eat well, and exercise. When you prioritise yourself, and when you become strong, things fall into place.
5. Celebrate the Small Stuff
There’s a very common belief that you need to achieve everything in order to be successful. But who says so? The effects that being overwhelmed can have are often downplayed, but the truth is that feeling overwhelmed can sometimes be debilitating.
At times when things are particularly bad, anything – anything – that you do that gets you one step closer to achieving what you need to is a reason to celebrate. This could even be as simple as getting up and having a shower. Don’t be afraid to be kind to yourself, and to tell yourself that you’re doing a great job… because you are.
