Calm Overwhelm With These 6 Simple Steps.

It is a natural response to feel disconnected, distracted and exhausted at times. With higher levels of stress and uncertainty we face, overwhelm has become a more potent guest in our lives.  

It can be a delicate dance, navigating our own continual healing whilst balancing the needs of our families, loved ones and then our clients. Often, we become so focused that we can miss the signs of our own emotional and physical depletion.

If you are feeling feeling alone, exhausted and struggling with finding balance in your life right now, I see you.

What does it mean to feel overwhelm?

Overwhelm is a combination of emotional over-stimulation, energetic imbalance, and physical unrest. It can be triggered by the compounding of stress, poor sleep or diet over an extended period of time, over committing yourself and/or a lack of tools to help you process the more challenging aspects of your life.

It is in this depleted state that you lose connection to your inner power and strength. You become more sensitive and can feel as though the basics of daily life are too much. If you don't take time to pause, rest and recover, your body will react to the disharmony. Your internal climate will begin to change.

On a cellular level, our cells can only respond to and evolve to the environment that they are in. So we need to change our physical environment and behaviours to realign our physical and emotional states. This principle invites us to re-program on a deeper, more internal level through practices that soothe and disarm our trauma responses.

Stress and overwhelm can be regulated with the right tools, and when you learn to integrate more fully with yourself, you achieve alignment of the mind, heart and body. You are able to reclaim your personal power and find new and fruitful ways to create the life you truly want to live and show up for your clients in a higher, more energised state.

5 early signs that you may be overwhelmed:

• loss of appetite

• poor sleep or focus

• fatigue or exhaustion

• headaches or body pains

• reacting more than you usually would

• experiencing crying or angry episodes

• feeling withdrawn or wanting to avoid people.

6 simple steps to care for yourself when you're feeling overwhelmed:

1. Breath
 


Breath work is a powerful tool that has been utilised for centuries, and still plays a significant role in healing and well-being in our modern world today. Conscious breath re-sets the autonomic nervous system and settles the fight or flight response, increases oxygen supply and blood flow and creates space for calm connection.

Take some time each day to find a quiet place to sit and not be disturbed. Close your eyes and relax your body. Start by taking a nice deep gentle breath in through your nose, filling your belly, and then exhale out through your mouth.

Repeat 5 times.

This practice can be done literally anywhere — at work, in the car, in your walk-in closet or pantry. When you feel overwhelm creeping in, this is a great first practice to begin regulating your emotions.

2. Find Stable Ground.

In times of overwhelm, we can feel extremely sensitive and emotional. The urge to curl up and hide from matters that are contributing to the feeling that life is too much can override our sense of security and ability to perform even the simplest of tasks.

Stabilising your physical, emotional and mental frequencies by eliminating triggers and replacing with supportive and nurturing structures and practices is the next important step in overcoming overwhelm.

Reduce noise or clutter, decline invites and lessen your obligations down to what is most necessary. Delegate tasks to loved ones and allocate time to take a nice bath, rest and listen to your favourite music or meditate.

Set realistic boundaries that support how you are feeling. Resting is far more important than saying yes to something that may create more stress for you. Modify your obligations, outsource tasks to staff or loved ones if you can and simplify your routine as best you can.

Remember, you cannot run on an empty tank, so find reverence for activities and practices that feel replenishing to you.

3. Return To Your Truth

Without realising it, overwhelm activates thoughts and beliefs that we have collected and absorbed throughout our lives, some of which do not serves us, and that are not especially true.

Coming back to what you know and feel to be to be true for you is a powerful tool to improve clarity and connect back to the heart. In times of stress, the ego can interfere and hinders rather than helps.

So having a few positive thoughts on hand to bring your focus to, and that are a definite truth for you is an important tool in self-empowerment and overwhelm.

4. Move Your Body

When feeling overwhelmed, our energy can become low, erratic and our motivations can slide to desperate places. However the nature of energy is movement, and we become paralysed or debilitated by overwhelm, we can become blocked as energetic data is prevented from flowing.

This impacts specific areas of the body that relate to particular beliefs and life experiences. So moving our physical body to kick start the circulation and flow of energy is a wonderful way to clear and shift energy.

5. Activate Your Heart

We can tend to live more in our minds when stress is present. Trying to problem solve, replaying events over in our mind or obsessing over our next move  only disconnects us from our heart-brain, and prevents us from accessing the full connection to our intuition, wisdom and emotional intelligence.

The mind tends to focus only on what we deem as important, so if you have been telling negative stories and running mind programmes that no longer serve you, that is what will default.

When bringing focus back into the heart, and taking some time to stabilise through the breath, we create a neutral zone to be able to disarm any fight or flight responses and get to the heart of the matter by seeing both sides and finding trust.

Strengthening your ability to find positive aspects and joy in simple pleasures is a perfect place to start. This activates your heart and generates a higher energy frequency to literally ‘lift you up’ and re-ignite ease, hope and happiness in your life.

When you can lean into this process, you create the perfect environment to create and foster calm, clear thoughts and decisions to keep you moving forward.

6. Seek Specialised Support.

As practitioners and caregivers, we sometimes need support and guidance too. Engage a professional who understands your challenges and who can provide you with the right tools and support to ensure you are getting what you need.

If you would like to learn new ways to self-stabilise, or receive support to refine your current processes feel welcome to get in touch and we can discuss suitable pathways to get started.