The Art of Less Stress: being OVERWHELMED

I have too much to do, in too little time, with not enough sleep and not enough money.

This is the mindset of many American women. Heck, men too. But for women who are professionals, partners, friends, mothers...and so forth, this is a painful and daily reminder. We wake up saying these things and we go to bed saying these things. We never do enough, there's always more. And we. reach. our. breaking. point.

OVERWHELM.

Before we can discuss the art of being overwhelmed. Let's just look at the definition of overwhelm.

o·ver·whelm

ˌōvərˈ(h)welm/

verb

past tense: overwhelmed; past participle: overwhelmed

1. bury or drown beneath a huge mass.

   "the water flowed through to overwhelm the whole dam and the village beneath"

   synonyms:

   swamp, submerge, engulf, bury, deluge, flood, inundate "advancing sand dunes could overwhelm the village"

   • defeat completely.

     "his teams overwhelmed their opponents"

     synonyms:

     defeat (utterly/heavily), trounce, rout, beat (hollow), conquer, vanquish, be victorious over, triumph over, worst, overcome, overthrow, crush; More

   • give too much of a thing to (someone); inundate.

     "they were overwhelmed by farewell messages"

   (dictionary.com)

Yep, this sounds...eerily familiar. 

Feeling buried under late bills, drowning in laundry and chores, defeated by our manager's incessant need to ask us for more hours, and giving too much of ourselves to a partner whose less reciprocal. 

But how do these feelings sneak up on us? 

Brene Brown discusses often about her 'scarcity' mindset. We won't go into that now, but just know it plays an integral part in developing our 'overwhelmed feelings'. The idea that we don't have enough and that we are in poverty for often intangible things (ie. sleep, relaxation, spirituality, relationships, professionalism, etc.) force us to put additional pressure on ourselves to pursue an unrealistic or inauthentic ideal. 

Too sexy for you? Let me provide this. I see many women just due to feeling "overwhelmed". Other words people match with that feeling? Anxious, exhausted, tired, burned-out, dry, empty, frustrated, torn, fizzled, broken, pained, fatigued, crushed, victimized, failing, etc. 

This month our blog will introduce a new series, Stress Less, where we'll be exploring how to work through overwhelmed emotions and tips to catch those feelings, change those thoughts and use some self compassion to appreciate what we have done and accomplished. 

Stay tuned on our blog or check out our facebook page for some midweek inspiration. 

As always,