STOP in order to GO towards Happiness, Peace and Clarity
Overwhelm literally means ‘overpowerpowered’ or ‘defeated’: for years I experienced emotional overwhelm without stopping or acknowledging what I was feeling. Instead, I resisted feeling overpowered and thought I was being “strong”, “smart” and “undefeated”!
This masked internal instability made me doubt & blame myself, overthink, procrastinate, rely on others to feel good inside…
I would push it all down by focusing on the things I felt obliged to do, people to see, tasks to complete…. and I also went through Big Overwhelms where I found myself spiraling into multitude of emotions and thoughts, and temporarily unable to perform the simplest tasks, a few times I felt unable to drive, so I had to pull over and just cry feeling like I couldn’t handle life…
Around the time of such Big Overwhelms is when I discovered the 5 Steps that changed this around for me, so I was able to return to feeling calm and clear and take positive actions. The First Four Steps have proven useful to me and my clients when either dealing with an acute overwhelm, and Step 5 is necessary to develop skills that help you feel emotionally masterful in life and reduce or remove overwhelm altogether:
1. STOP and Admit you feel overwhelmed.
Despite what the society often promotes, it is not “wrong” or “weak” for you to feel this way. All people, including the ones you greatly admire, at some point feel overwhelmed. Resisting the rush of emotions is what creates the discomfort in the first place.“I accept that I feel overwhelmed. This is normal and happens to everyone.”
2. This is Temporary:
Sometimes our nervous system “floods over” with more than habitual amounts of emotional information. All rivers overflood, but eventually settle into a steady flow by either becoming wider or returning back to their banks, so will your nervous system self-regulate and find its optimal flow again. Tell yourself “This is happening but will pass.”
3. Time-Out: self-soothe, consciously distract or share:
Before you can deal with whatever is overwhelming you, you first need to let your nervous system release the pressure and calm down. Take deep breaths, use soothing self-compassion, increase body comfort – warm shower, cup of tea, chocolate, cuddles, sunshine, swim, rest, distract yourself with a funny movie, talk to a friend. The key is to remember that you will need to address this properly once calmer, but not now. Tell yourself: “It will be alright. I am with you. Let’s chill and soothe. It will make sense later, not now.”
4. Lean into your Greater Self :
Your conscious self isn’t beating your heart or has all the answers. The Greater you is infinitely intelligent, powerful, loving and resourceful – open up to this part of you, so the smaller overwhelmed self can receive the support it needs. Take Deep Breaths: “My Greater Self is powerful and loving beyond what I know. I open to my Greater Self for help.”
5. Ask for Help + avoid future overwhelm:
Once you feel better, either use the skills you already have to fully process emotions, or else look for help from somebody, who specialises in helping people work through their feelings. In my work I use PSYCH-K, EFT, NLP, Kinesiology, Higher Guidance, Higher Psychology, sound and energy work to help people let go of stagnant emotions.
I hope you found the Steps above useful and please let me know below which one resonated with you the most. If you would like help with improving emotional resilience, releasing negative emotions as well as feeling habitually more joyful, self-appreciative, loving and happy – feel free to explore what I do on my website or book a discovery call to see how I can help you further :)