I Get Overwhelmed Easily: What Do I Do?
It’s such an awful feeling! Life is chaotic and messy sometimes and it’s hard to get a grip on everything. In this article, I Get Overwhelmed Easily: What Do I Do?, you will learn 21 of the best tips for dealing with that feeling of overwhelm and stress so you can take your life back!
Stress and overwhelm often go hand-in-hand together. If left unmanaged, it can be disastrous as you probably know. These feelings can affect your work, motivation, energy, health, and so much more.
Before you let the overwhelm take control of your life, try some of these tips for relaxing and managing stress. You do NOT have to JUST deal with it. There are many ways to reduce your overwhelm.
Now let’s get reading, my friend! We all need some help!
Easily Overwhelmed by Stress and Chaos
If you have been feeling very overwhelmed with your life and what feels like too many responsibilities, it can take a toll on your health and wellbeing. It also greatly impacts the people around you.
If your past is affecting your feeling of overwhelm, stress, and frustration, you may also want to check out How to Leave the Past in the Past When Dealing with Trauma because it has many good tips that will also help you manage life easier.
Remember, you are stronger than you realize. As Steve Harvey says, “You have made it through 100% of the worst days of your life!” You can do this!
Here are 21 awesome tips that will help you overcome both stress and overwhelm to get your life back under control. Never say “I get overwhelmed easily – what do I go?” again!
Related Article: 43 Great Ideas for a Calm Corner or Emotional Escape Room
1. Accept That Stress Can’t Be Avoided
The first part of dealing with stress is accepting it. Everyone has stress in their lives. So if you accept this, you can better prepare yourself for ways to relieve it.
You need to identify your stressors, define them, and realize that you have not done anything wrong. If you focus on the stress that’s overwhelming you, your body will release more stress hormones into your body and you will feel even more overwhelmed.
Understand that it is from situations in your life that can’t be avoided, and then think about strategies to reduce it. It’s a matter of mindset and how you react to stressful situations.
You will find helpful tips about reducing that feeling of overwhelm in How to Bring More Cozy into Your Life, too. The information complements the information in this article, with a focus on positive changes.
2. Schedule Daily Time to Calm Your Mind and Body
Both your mind and body go through the ringer when you are under stress and thinking “I get overwhelmed easily – what do I do?” So you need to focus on calming both.
Sometimes, this means just taking a minute to practice deep breathing, while in other cases, you may need a little more time to focus on meditating or practicing mindfulness. Don’t risk not having enough time in your day to do some calming techniques because you didn’t schedule time.
You need to schedule breaks in your day for calming practices to help manage your stress and prevent complete overwhelm.
3. Think About the Situation Differently
If there is a particular stressful situation that you can feel taking over your thoughts and emotions, try to think about it in a different way – from a different perspective – from a different mindset. Look at the problem from an outsider’s viewpoint, put aside your feelings about it for a moment, and see it from a different angle.
Does it look any different? Can you find a way to be positive or optimistic? At the very least, is the stressful situation helping to teach you a lesson?
There are very few things in life that are not going to teach you something, or offer you more than one way to view it. But you might need to take a step back and let yourself do that.
4. Get Outside to Get Grounded
Time to regroup or get grounded! Use one of your scheduled daily breaks to go outside, or at least to a different environment, and just appreciate your new surroundings. Having stress at work? Go outside during your break, take a walk, or grab a friend and take an early lunch.
Is the stress at home? Give yourself a few minutes to hang outside in your garden, go for a drive, or walk to a nearby park.
The energy is different outside. You have fresh air, sunshine, new sounds and smells. You use different senses. This alone can be very therapeutic and help reduce stress.
5. Establish Realistic Goals
If your stress and overwhelm is related to your personal and/or professional goals, and what you need to do to achieve them, then you might want to think about whether they are realistic right now. It is great to have big dreams, but they may be a little too out of reach and causing you tremendous overwhelm at the moment.
Plus, if you are failing to reach milestones toward your goals then it will only cause you more stress. You will be saying “I get overwhelmed easily” again and again.
Try to use the SMART method of creating goals, which includes making sure they are specific, measurable, achievable and realistic, and timely. This can help set you up for success, not for stress due to poor management or failure.
There is nothing wrong with changing your goals or making modifications along the way, you know? Especially if you are feeling far too much overwhelm.
Related Article: Why is Personal Development Important?
6. Don’t Overschedule
This tip is referenced in other tips where we discuss time management and/or scheduling. But be sure not to fill up your calendar with so much that you become overwhelmed. You’ll definitely find yourself saying “I get overwhelmed easily” if you are overscheduling.
When you overbook or overschedule, often self care and self love practices such as good sleep hygiene and healthy eating habits are the first to go. Then your stress increases.
Be reasonable about your time. Make sure you have scheduled in travel times, sleep times, meal times, etc to avoid becoming overwhelmed and having to give up your valuable self care time.
7. Lean on People When Necessary
Don’t be afraid to reach out to people you know. Lean on them when necessary. Nobody can accomplish anything completely alone, and sometimes we all need help, reassurance, and support.
Find people who you know and trust that understand what you are going through and truly want to help. Be sure your circle of friends are going to relieve your stress, instead of adding more burden or drama to your life.
8. Start a Daily Journal
When you are overwhelmed, your mind is probably FULL of thoughts, worries, concerns, fears, regrets, hopes, and so much more. You need to get all of these thoughts and emotions out of your head, and there is no better way to do that than journaling.
There are so many different kinds of journals. But you could start one for your stress and overwhelm, calling it a Worry Journal. This can be used as a place to vent about everything you are worried about. Think about all the things that are causing you stress right now, and write them down.
A good time to schedule your Worry Journal is right before bed. This way, you get everything out of your head before you go to sleep and you will sleep better.
Be honest, be detailed or vague, write it however you want. Don’t worry about how long it is, how short it is, grammar or spelling, or any other “rules” of writing.
Just get your worries out in whatever way works best for you. This will help you develop more clarity about what’s been causing you stress, why it’s causing you stress, and why you’ve been so overwhelmed.
Remember, awareness is a major step in managing your feelings of being so easily overwhelmed.
9. Complete an Unfinished Project
Another way to relieve overwhelm in your life is to think about a project you have not completed – and finish it. This can be anything – big or small. You know, that craft project you put on top the fridge and forgot about? Or the project you put in your closet 6 months ago intending to finish after the holidays?
Why is this helpful?
Because you gain a feeling of accomplishment and empowerment when you complete something. Even a small project you have been putting off, or a little home project you started but didn’t complete.
When you finish it, you know you worked hard and completed it. You did what was expected of you. This can relieve a lot of stress and overwhelm that you are currently experiencing by boosting your confidence and positive mindset.
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10. Let Your Mind Wander (Visualize)
Visualization is a very powerful, almost magical tool. When you can see something you want to be, accomplish, or get done, it gives you inspiration and motivation. It also helps you get in touch with your highest self and boosts your confidence.
It boosts your desire to work hard toward your goals. And when you can visualize getting something wonderful accomplished, it helps you manage your stress better.
But visualization can also be a powerful relaxation strategy. Sometimes it can just be a daydream where you allow your imagination wander. You allow it to be creative and open-minded. You let the visualization take you away to a different location, or a different life. Real of imaginary.
Just take a few minutes a day spent visualizing and relaxing your mind can help you feel less overwhelmed.
11. Develop Healthy Sleep Routines
Sleep should be your top priority, whether you have stress and overwhelm or not. Sleep is essential for your mind, body, and spirit. You need rest each night to maintain focus and energy and be able to get through each day.
If you don’t get enough quality sleep, you need to reevaluate how to make changes in your daily schedule. Maybe you need to start getting ready for bed earlier. You should put away electronic devices long before bed.
Establish an evening routine that supports your mind and body settling down at least two hours before bedtime. You need uninterrupted quality sleep each night.
For additional information, check out Sleep Foundation. It’s an awesome organization with great resources.
You can also read Bedtime Affirmations for Good Sleep here on Sassy Sister Stuff for tips about improving your sleep habits.
12. Set Your Priorities
Identifying the priorities in your life is a crucial part of relaxing when you feel stressed and overwhelmed. This is true in your personal and professional life.
A big part of self-care and relieving that feeling of overwhelm is knowing when to put yourself first and prioritize tasks.
Let go of things that aren’t important. Or things that don’t bring your joy.
Here are some tips for figuring out the priorities in your life, and what you can put off until later:
Is there a deadline? Think about tasks that have a strict deadline, and get those done first. These should be a priority, since they MUST be done by a certain date and time. Other tasks that are more open-ended should be saved for later and have a lower priority. If you try to do everything at once, you will be creating more stress for yourself.
Look at the big picture. Think about the tasks and what the end result is going to be. Is it more like busy work that you think you should be doing, or will it actually improve your life in some way?
How do you feel when working on the task? If there is something you start working on that immediately causes more stress and frustration, re-think whether this is a priority or not.
Does it affect people in your life? You might also want to think about certain tasks that could affect your family and friends in a positive or negative way. Tasks related to taking your kids to doctor’s appointments and helping your friend with moving might be a priority, but make sure you are still looking for a balance.
13. Follow a Morning Routine
Morning routines help set you up for success each day. They provide you a way to be energized and positive right from the moment you wake up.
Your morning routine should include some time for self-care each day. It could be meditation or yoga, drinking a glass of water, writing in your journal, reading a devotional. There are no rules as long as your morning routine helps you feel invigorated and ready to take on the day with a positive mindset and a heart of gratitude.
Develop a morning routine that is good for your mind, body, and soul.
14. A Healthy Body Means a Healthy Mind
Managing your stress and overwhelm always starts with your overall health. A healthy body and mind will help you manage stress much better.
Eating a healthy, well-balanced diet with lots of fruits, veggies, lean protein, and whole grains is going to help keep your mind and body healthy. You should get regular exercise and drink plenty of water each day.
These positive health habits will make a big difference in your physical health, which will in turn help your mental health as well. Consequently, you will be better able to manage your feelings of being stressed and overwhelmed.
Another strategy that helps you maintain a healthy mind, body, and soul is regular massage therapy. There are incredible benefits that go far beyond just a special occasion treat.
15. Manage Your Time Well
With most people, everything is always about time. Making time for your family, making time for work, looking at the clock every few minutes during your workday, trying to get out of the house with enough time to spare, getting to the kids’ games on time.
In today’s fast-paced world, we are always focused on TIME.
And it causes a lot of unnecessary stress.
There are certain aspects of life where time is important, such as getting to an appointment or meeting on time, but don’t schedule your entire life to revolve around time. It can be very overwhelming and stressful.
As you are scheduling your week, be sure to include unscheduled time for just doing something spontaneous and fun. Or just doing NOTHING. Schedule a day with no time constraints or expectations.
But don’t forget to schedule in time for yourself, family, and friends. Otherwise, you will feel more stressed and overwhelmed.
This is why good time management is so helpful – you not only schedule all your work tasks, but you also schedule time for your personal life and leisure time.
16. Stay Mindful of Positive Changes and a Better Outlook
When you have major overwhelm burnout, it can be hard to use standard stress relief methods. By this point, you are having trouble just getting the bare minimum done. When you add in stress and overwhelm at the same time, it becomes impossible.
Instead of putting too much pressure on yourself during an overwhelm crisis, start to make some changes now. One excellent “hack” to use is to be mindful during just one moment every day. During that moment, give yourself a few minutes to re-focus your energy from something negative to something positive.
You may want to check out this article about growth mindset, too. It gives you 101 phrases to help you change from a negative to a positive mindset.
Maybe you are in your office after a meeting that caused you a lot of stress and tension, so you sit for 5 minutes and are mindful about something positive you feel right now.
This could be gratitude for this job you worked so hard for, happiness for your family and friends, or just understanding that the stressful situation is over and now you can appreciate you got through it.
Related Article: 12 Benefits of Mindfulness: Mind, Body, and Soul
17. Don’t Work Through Meals
Stop working non stop! Working more is NOT going to help you overcome burnout. You need a break. Your body and mind need rest. If you work too much all week long, then when the weekend comes, you have no energy left to live your life.
One small thing you can start doing right now is taking proper lunch breaks. Stop eating lunch at your desk, and stop talking to people on your phone when you’re eating lunch out of the office. Turn off your phone, enjoy this time, be mindful of your meal, and just relax. Work will be there waiting for you when your break is over.
18. Find What Gives You Positive Energy
Look for something in each day that makes you feel positive and happy. Something that you look forward to everyday. In fact, think about how you can celebrate life every day!
This is going to encourage more positive energy, which can then help to relieve some of the stress and overwhelm in your life.
This will be unique to you and your situation. It can be related to your home, your job, people in your life, achieving your goals, having accomplished something you put your mind to, being more physically healthy, losing weight, just about anything.
The sky’s the limit on this one.
What do you look forward to each day? What puts a smile on your face and gives you warm fuzzies? If you don’t have anything, then add something to your day that brings you positive energy to help reduce your stress.
19. Start Saying No
Even if you have always been the person everyone else counts on, you don’t have to be that person anymore. As you are going on your journey to reduce stress and overwhelm in your life, it’s time to start saying NO to things that are not productive for you.
You have every right to say no to hosting a party, decline an offer to go out on your only night off this week, or to do an extra project at work.
You need to learn how to say no when you are already overwhelmed with all your usual responsibilities. In fact, if necessary, tell people “I get overwhelmed easily” and explain that you need to preserve your health. (Although, it is NOT necessary to give an explanation unless you want to.)
20. Live in the Present
An important part of being mindful is living in the present. Unfortunately, it can be hard to focus on what is most important in the moment when you get overwhelmed.
If you don’t practice living in the moment and being present, you tend to have too much going on in your brain at all times. This can lead to a feeling of hopelessness.
Therefore, it is essential to learn to be mindful and live in the present at all times, where you are only focused on THIS very moment. What is important now? NOT what happened two days ago, or what might happen in a month.
JUST focus on RIGHT NOW. This can help you to organize your thoughts, figure out your priorities, and feel less overwhelmed.
21. Mindful Exercises and Techniques
Mindfulness can be a very simple process for some people but it does not come naturally to others. Sometimes it can be difficult due to specific circumstances. However there are some exercises that can help you develop the skill of mindfulness. You can start with these simple techniques if you are having trouble with mindfulness:
–Body Scan
The first technique is not only used for mindfulness, but for meditation as well. This is a body scan exercise, where you are going to physically BE STILL and mentally scan each part of your body, one section at a time. This allows you to be more mindful by focusing on how each part of your body feels in that moment, but can also get you into a relaxed, meditative state.
Instead of thinking about what is worrying you at the moment, instead you are thinking about parts of your body, like your scalp, ears, chest, stomach, arms, legs, hands, or feet. Go through each body part one at a time, really focusing on it.
–Breathe
You can also try a breathing exercise with mindfulness. For this, just the action of practicing your breathing gets you into a meditative, mindful state. You will be thinking about your breathing right in this moment, and not worrying too much about the past or the future.
You should sit in a quiet space where you won’t be interrupted. Inhale deeply, then exhale. Each time you inhale and exhale, try to hold it for several seconds, and relax your mind and body as you do this.
–Use Your Senses
The last mindful exercise you can do is think about and use all of your senses in this moment. For example, what do you smell? Do you feel anything near you? If you’re eating or drinking, what do you taste? What do you hear around you? And what do you see around you? This practice will help your mind be distracted from your past and future stressors. Use all 5 of your senses for this practice.
–Put Down Your Devices
Another technique that is becoming essential if you are learning to be mindful is taking a break from your electronics devices. These devices keep your brain activated at all times and do not give your mind a chance to settle down. Schedule a time each day to take a break from your devices so your mind can have a break.
I Get Overwhelmed Easily: Reflect and Reframe
I invite you to read another article that will help you focus on overcoming the feelings of stress and overwhelm. The articles provides 29 Reasons Why Life Is Beautiful. It will help you reflect and reframe how you look at life and how you deal with your overwhelm.
If you are a TikTok fan, you will likely remember the song, Overwhelmed, by Royal and The Serpent. It has been trending off and on for a couple of years and remains very popular today.
I am going to include the lyrics to Overwhelmed here because they are very reflective and honest. When you read through them, remember that everyone feels easily overwhelmed by stress at times in their lives.
You are definitely not alone. It’s a perfectly normal part of life. But there are plenty of things you can do to reduce your stress and live a more peaceful life.
Overwhelmed Lyrics
To report suspicious activity
(You can call 9-1-1 for immediate response)
(And there’s still no working cure for the virus)Turn off the T.V, it’s starting to freak me
Out it’s so loud, it’s like my ears are bleeding
What am I feeling? Can’t look at the ceiling
Light is so bright, it’s like I’m over-heating
This mind isn’t mine, who am I to judge?
Oh, I should be fine, but it’s all too much
I get overwhelmed so easily
My anxiety creeps inside of me
Makes it hard to breathe
What’s come over me?
Feels like I’m somebody else
I get overwhelmed so easily
My anxiety keeps me silent
When I try to speak
What’s come over me?
Feels like I’m somebody else
I get overwhelmed
All of these faces who don’t know what space is
And crowds are shut down, I’m over-stimulated
Nobody gets it, say I’m too sensitive
I can’t listen ’cause I’m eyeing the exits
This mind isn’t mine, who am I to judge?
Oh, I should be fine, but it’s all too much
I get overwhelmed so easily
My anxiety creeps inside of me
Makes it hard to breathe
What’s come over me?
Feels like I’m somebody else I get overwhelmed
I get overwhelmed so easily
My anxiety keeps me silent
When I try to speak
What’s come over me? Feels like I’m somebody else
I get overwhelmed
I should be fine, but it’s all too much
I should be fine, but I’m not (not)
I get overwhelmed so easily
My anxiety creeps inside of me
Makes it hard to breathe
What’s come over me? Feels like I’m somebody else
I get overwhelmed so easily
Keeps me silent
(Keeps me silent)
What’s come over me?
Somebody, somebody else
I get overwhelmed
Songwriters: Mark Gozman / Ryan Santiago / William Jay Behlendorf / Jeoff Harris
It might even help you feel better to keep the song on a playlist so you can listen to it when you’re feeling particularly overwhelmed. The last time I checked, there were over 4 million TikTok videos that have been created using that song! That’s a lot of people who can relate to feeling overwhelmed!
Related Article: Songs that Empower Women
Final Thoughts About Avoiding the Feeling of Overwhelm
I hope you have learned some valuable tips to help you figure out how to live a more peaceful, calm life without so much stress and overwhelm. Hopefully you will also find comfort in knowing it’s part of LIFE and everyone often feels the same way.
You might also want to lean into the self love movement so you can develop a mindset of self love that allows you to always be the best version of yourself. In fact, you’ll read about many of these 21 tips in anything you read about SELF LOVE:)
These articles also provide tips about how to calm the chaos in your life and how to protect your peace of mind. You can click on the blue links to go directly to these articles.
Hang in there and keep working on it! You can do this!
Love to All! ~ Susan
inspiring
Thank you…xoxo:)