Feeling Overwhelmed

The First Steps to Going Beyond

Are you feeling overwhelmed by responsibilities, demands, and choices? Well, you’re not alone. Feeling overwhelmed is an epidemic among women today. It keeps us going around in circles, and it hinders our ability to truly create.

This is the Dictionary.com definition of overwhelmed:

1) To surge over and submerge; engulf: waves overwhelmed the rocky shoreline.

2) a: To defeat completely and decisively: Our team overwhelmed the visitors by 40 points.b: To affect deeply in mind or emotion: Despair overwhelmed me.

3) To present with an excessive amount: They overwhelmed us with expensive gifts.

4) To turn over; upset: The small craft was overwhelmed by the enormous waves.

The key to understanding and going beyond the issue of feeling overwhelmed is found in definition number three. If you are feeling overwhelmed right now, it’s because you are experiencing an excessive amount of something. And I’m willing to bet that something isn’t expensive gifts!

The first step is to stop blaming yourself and to recognize that you are feeling overwhelmed because you are believing you need to do too much, or you are attempting to choose from too many choices, or your focus is too wide or too far into the future.

The second step is to start validating your own boundaries. Your boundaries are set in place naturally by your own deep inner wisdom. When you are attempting to do too much, your natural wisdom will signal you that a boundary is being violated, and that signal will take the form of negative emotion.

The next time you feel overwhelmed, instead of believing that it’s your own fault for not being able to do more, recognize that you are forcing yourself to do too much. This idea may seem foreign at first, or it may not seem to offer a solution . But it’s enough, at first, to just consider these ideas. With time they will sink down into your consciousness , merge with your own wisdom, and emerge as personal solutions.

How To Tune in to What's Most Important

At times like this the answer is to get in touch with your core intentions. Regardless of how it may seem, all tasks are not vital, and the are not equally important. Once you tune in to your authentic self and get in touch with who you really are, it’s easier to see which projects are truly important and which are not.

Push other people’s desires and expectations aside for a moment, and remind yourself of what you love. That feeling of love is lantern that will guide you on your path to creating a life that’s right for you.

The next time you feel overwhelmed and you don’t know what to do, recognize that your focus is too wide. Most things in life are overwhelming if you face them in their entirety; but when you break them, down into smaller, one-day-at-a-time pieces, each step becomes clearer. Narrow your focus down, so that you can utilize your inner guidance and choose what to do right now, today.

Getting in touch with your natural personal boundaries and you core intentions is the biggest key to personal empowerment and the end of feeling overwhelmed. Once you are in alignment with your own life-vision, you can easily cut a path through the jungle of options surrounding you and move forward in a balanced, empowered way.

Creating a Personal Mission statement is a good place to start.

Are You Trying To Do Too Much?

A) Other people are overloading your plate and you’re agreeing to itorB) You’re overloading your own plate.

Either way it’s a boundary violation. Even if you’re doing it to yourself! Yes, yes, I hear you saying, “It’s not that I WANT to do all this by myself. I HAVE to do all this just to survive!” In order to find a way out of feeling overwhelmed, it’s important to consider that statement carefully.

Is your sense of self-worth tied to how well you can fill other people’s requests? Are you afraid of admitting that you can’t do everything? Are you afraid of asking for support? What is it, exactly, that keeps you from seeking help and support? What keeps you from expecting support?

Are you invalidating the internal sensor that tells you when you are trying to do too much? Everyone has natural boundaries, and when those boundaries are violated, we feel negative emotion. When you attempt to do too much, you always get internal signals that your boundaries have been violated.

Unfortunately, most of us disregard our own boundaries because we don’t trust their wisdom. We attempt to find safety and security in our accomplishments, and we often feel bad about ourselves when we can't achieve our goals. But it’s only by following our own instincts and listening to our own deep wisdom that we find balance and a sense of being productive without feeling overwhelmed.