Why we get overwhelmed
… and how to beat it
This time last year I was coming home from work and sitting at my kitchen bench with a glass of wine, that quickly became a bottle of wine, moaning to my hubby that I just couldn’t cope anymore. I was feeling overwhelmed by the work deadline pressures, sick and tired of the relationship struggles at work and burned out by doing it over and over and over again.
Unfortunately – these feelings of overwhelm are way too common right now, and I’m one of the lucky ones. I don’t have any additional family at home pressures right now.
So many of my colleagues, friends and acquaintances are stuck in this place of overwhelm and it's close friend – burnout. And I can see how its sucking the life and joy out of people.
Are you one of those people who can’t seem to stop “doing?”
I have yet to meet anyone who hasn’t felt overwhelmed from time to time. Since it tends to feel unpleasant, and even soul-destroying at times, sometimes we view it as a failing on our part and maybe even as a weakness.
A lot of us don’t want to admit when we are feeling overwhelmed or we aren’t comfortable talking about it, which can leave us feeling isolated and alone, and this intensifies all the stressful feelings.
We might even deny that we are overwhelmed, because we don't know how to stop the chaotic thoughts and behaviour that leads to this feeling. So, we do nothing. Our employers, colleagues or friends often aren’t aware or don’t know how to help support us to stop overworking or feeling overwhelmed.
So WHY do we do this to ourselves?
This problem mainly occurs in our work life but often it also carries over into our personal and family life. Typically, it starts when we begin to focus on a big project or work task, or even a family event or all of these at once. It begins with good intentions but if we don’t have an effective plan to balance our work and be efficient in what we are doing, we can quickly and easily be overwhelmed.
Getting the new operating procedure approved, a work project finalised, writing the copy for your website, completing all the stakeholder engagement necessary or finishing your project schedule are all important – but having a healthy, balanced life is even more important.
These stress reactions of overwhelm are telling you that you need to make some changes your life! If you keep on ignoring these reactions they won’t go away, they will keep eating away at your mental and emotional state until you burnout or get sick.
Once you decide that you want to do something about it, it is easier to identify the steps you need to take to shift out of the behaviour quickly.
The link below has some helpful strategies from my own experience and from my work with clients and colleagues who were burned out, frustrated, overwhelmed and even depressed. I believe these strategies help you refocus and make some better work/life balance decisions.