How to Stop Feeling Overwhelmed
The world hasn’t stopped being busy. It went along with the quick progression of civilization and technology. People have been actively increasing their productivity. At the same time, they get stressed, frustrated, and confused by all the chaos.
You may be one of those people. Day by day, you insert yourself into this rat race. You put more on your plate, bite off more than you can chew, and get in way over your head. Then one day, you wake up burdened, wondering how to stop feeling overwhelmed.
We know that you want to regain control over your mind to calm down when you need to. The tips below will be helpful on how to stop being easily overwhelmed so you can navigate through your days better.
1. Pause and ground yourself
If you’re wondering how to stop feeling overwhelmed at work, the simplest way is to pause. Hit the brakes and give yourself breathing space. The chaos in the workplace can send you flying around to get so many things done. What you need is to ground yourself.
Sit still in the most comfortable, accessible space. Take a deep breath to activate your parasympathetic nervous system (the part of your brain that reduces your feelings of anxiety and relaxes you).
Then, engage your 5 senses to ground yourself in the present moment. Find 5 things you can see, 4 things you can touch, 3 things you can hear, 2 things you can smell, and 1 thing you can taste, Do whatever’s applicable. Afterward, regroup, review your tasks, then do them. This is also a good tip for how to stop feeling overwhelmed at school.
2. Relax
One reason you’re overwhelmed is you demand too much from yourself. You want everything to be perfect, and it stresses you out. Show more gentleness and compassion to yourself by setting aside time to relax. This is a good tip for how to stop feeling overwhelmed at home because a comfortable space is where you can feel most relaxed.
When muscles get stressed, we soothe them. Do the same to your worn-out brain. Identify an activity that makes you feel calm and happy. Insert that activity in between your tasks. If you can’t, remove one or two least prioritized tasks and replace them with relaxation.
3. Let your feelings out
Do you know how pressure makes a volcano erupt? The same principle applies when you bottle up your feelings. So, another tip on how to stop feeling overwhelmed is to let your feelings out. However, don’t erupt on people. Speak to them. Confide in your support system and yourself. Positive self-talk can do wonders for you.
When you’re feeling overwhelmed and depressed, do some introspection and write down your thoughts. Journaling will help you keep up with your mind that easily panics and makes negative conclusions. Calm your mind down and keep it from spiraling out of control by writing what it thinks and how it feels. This way, you can monitor your thought patterns and challenge illogical thoughts and feelings.
4. Practice mindfulness
No, meditation is not overrated. In fact, there’s not enough belief in it. It’s one of the ways you can achieve mindfulness, so you’ll know how to stop feeling overwhelmed and anxious. Being mindful simply means being present in the moment. This is how you can deal with current situations with full awareness, attention, and control of your thoughts and behavior.
Engage in mindfulness or guided meditation as a start. It requires you to focus on your breath and the sensations that come with it. It teaches you to let your thoughts come and observe them but not engage with them.
5. Focus only on what you can control
Learning how to stop being easily overwhelmed means choosing your battles. You can only deal with so much. The best thing you can do is concentrate your attention and abilities on things you can control. If something is reliant on others’ discretion, and there’s nothing you can do about it, let it go.
Conclusion
The given tips are great steps in mastering how to stop feeling overwhelmed. Learning how to apply them effectively is a process; it’ll take time. Do them consistently, and you’ll soon find yourself better at resisting feeling overwhelmed. Aim to live calmly. Good luck!
