Being overwhelmed happens to everyone so don’t beat yourself up. There are valid reasons for it. However, staying overwhelmed is a different story and I can help.
When you feel overwhelmed, there’s something you can do about it no matter what reason brought the overwhelm your way. There are many reasons we can become overwhelmed but I’m going to address just 6 of them and tell you what you can do about it.
Knowing the reason you’re feeling overwhelmed is the beginning of knowing what to do about it.
DEFINING
To be overwhelmed means to be overcome completely in mind or feeling, to be crushed, buried, and/or overpowered. It’s like being underneath a pile of rocks from an avalanche, or beneath floodwaters. That’s pretty intense.
I started writing this article because I dealt with the feeling of overwhelm the other day. The feeling wanted me to sit down all day in a chair and do nothing. I didn’t want to do that. I wanted to make it go away. To that I had to figure out the reason I was feeling overwhelmed, then I could do something about it.
Searching for my reason I found it was number one below. But writing this article I discovered I was dealing with reason number 6 also. I had started with just 5 reasons at first.
Whatever the reason you feel overwhelmed there is something you can do.
REASON 1 – DISORGANIZATION
When I was feeling overwhelmed, I knew I had a lot to do. The pressure from all those things spoke to me as if I needed to tend to them all simultaneously and right this second. Neither of those were true.
What I did to diffuse this reason was to make a list of everything I thought I needed to do. I included even a seemingly trivial thing as taking a shower. But because it takes time, I wrote it on my list.
Writing it all down took the invisible pressure out of me and made it visible. Then I prioritized what needed to be done that day, and identified what could wait. This made sense of my inner mess, quieting the inner demanding voices.
Even with organizing, I didn’t get everything on my list completed (there were 26 things). However, I got most of them done, and all of the high priority ones. I call that a win.
Write all your tasks/thoughts down and organize them to alleviate the feeling of overwhelm.
REASON 2 – WORRY or FEAR
Worry is fear but we often fail to see it for what it is. It’s easier to make an excuse for worry than it is for fear. But calling it what it is, empowers us to fight it.
Worry is useless. Fear is destructive.
When overwhelm is driven by fear, look for what’s behind it. What are you afraid of?
Sometimes it’s just a big lie and you can get rid of it with the truth. Other times it’s in relation to someone else – something you have no control of. In this case, it takes a choice to let it go.
This can be done through a practice the Bible calls “casting your cares on God” which is giving the thing to God and letting Him handle it.
I understand this isn’t always as easy as it sounds. Our ability to do this is directly related to how much we trust God. We won’t give things to Him if we think He won’t do anything about it, do it how we want, or in our timing.
I practice casting my care on God every morning by rehearsing two specific scriptures*. This isn’t magical but it has helped me tremendously.
Question the fear, take action where possible and give the rest to God to combat the feeling of overwhelm.
REASON 3 – OVERWHELMING CIRCUMSTANCES
Sometimes life just throws too much at us at once.
Have you ever been through one thing after another going wrong over and over until you want to scream? Sure you have. So have I.
There are other times when we’re going through a major change. The change can be either positive or negative and cause the feeling of overwhelm.
When this happens, be kind to yourself. This can look be done in various ways.
Some examples are, take a deep breath and calm yourself, go for a walk, take a nap, go for a ride, some form of meditation, prayer, and reaching out for help. Talking with a friend or counselor can be helpful. Or asking for advice from trusted sources.
This kind of overwhelm tells you you’re alone – you’re not.
Give yourself the grace you need to get through what’s causing the overwhelm.
REASON 4 – LACK OF BOUNDARIES
This has been an area I’ve had to address a lot.
It’s common for those who’ve suffered trauma to have difficulty with boundaries. Poor self-image and desire to be loved and belong cause us to say yes when we need to say no. We take on responsibilities that are not ours and spread ourselves too thin in an effort to help others.
To overcome here requires self-care and choices. Something that has helped me a great deal is to internalize the affirmation that is the pop-up at this site.
You can’t be all things to all people. You can’t do all things at once…your humanity is showing…(get it here).
Knowing what you’re capable of and saying no when you need to will reduce being overwhelmed.
REASON 5 – POOR TIME MANAGEMENT
Oh boy. This is another big one for me.
It’s amazing how we can waste time and think we’re busy and productive. Having all those things written down from reason number one will go undone without giving intentional time to what needs to be done.
Schedule things and set time limits. When I do this, sometimes I don’t finish in the time allotted – but I was working – not checking my social media falling into the vortex of distraction.
To find out if you waste time when you think you’re doing all you can, do this 15-minute exercise. For 1-3 days set a timer for 15 minutes and write down what you did in those 15 minutes. It’s quite revealing.
When everything that needs to be done has a place it goes in time the feelings of overwhelm dissipate.
REASON 6 – SPIRITUAL WARFARE
This one escaped me at first.
I didn’t have this reason until I looked up the word overwhelm to define it. Then it became clear. I’m a Christian and believe we have an enemy but don’t believe there’s “a devil under every rock”.
When I began writing about overwhelm, I saw it as only an emotion.
It is an emotion, but I see how it can also be the enemy trying to stop us from whatever we’re working on. Remember one of the definitions for overwhelm was to overpower.
What we can do about overwhelm caused by spiritual warfare is to use the weapons God provides. The Bible tells us we have weapons of warfare, delegated authority, and protection. Going into what all that would be another article. Feel free to email me for more information.
With the authority and tools God provides, we can overcome overwhelm caused by the enemy.
WHAT NEXT
- Which reason above have you dealt with?
- Do you have another reason?
- Please share in the comments.
*The two scriptures I mentioned above are 1 Peter 5:7 AMP and Philippians 4:6 AMP
Wow – thank you for this. I am struggling so much with what’s happening in my life. Pray for me.
You’re welcome and thank you for reaching out. I’m going to pray for you right now. Love you.