When Life Feels Overwhelming
When Life Feels Overwhelming
Have you ever had one of those moments where life just feels like too much? Maybe it’s the never-ending list of things you’re supposed to do, or a health challenge that changes your daily routine. Overwhelm is that sinking feeling that says, “I can’t handle this. It’s all too much.”
A dear friend of mine is going through this right now. She recently came home from rehab after triple bypass surgery. On the one hand, she’s relieved—the surgery was successful, and she has a new lease on life. But she’s also staring down a long road to recovery. She told me she felt weighed down by everything she couldn’t do yet, and that’s a very real kind of overwhelm.
Here’s the good news: there are ways to ease that heavy feeling. You don’t have to tackle everything at once.
Here are a few ideas that help:
1. Do a brain dump.
Grab a notebook and write down everything that’s on your mind—your worries, your to-dos, your reminders. Just get it all out of your head and onto paper. It’s amazing how much lighter you feel once you’re not carrying it all around upstairs. From that, make a master list you can refer to.
2. Pick just a few things each day.
Don’t try to do it all. Choose one or two things from your list—maybe three if you’ve got energy. If you’re in recovery, it could look like:
Doing your physical therapy exercises.
Checking off one small thing from your list.
Adding a Tiny Habit, like saying to yourself every morning: “Every day I am getting better and better.”
3. Celebrate your wins.
At the end of the day, mark off what you did and—this is key—celebrate it! Give yourself a gold star, smile big, clap your hands, or simply say, “I did it!” It may sound small, but celebrating actually teaches your brain to feel good about progress, which makes it easier to keep going.
Overwhelm shrinks when we stop trying to handle everything at once and instead focus on the next small step. And when we celebrate those steps, we build momentum and confidence.
So if you’re feeling overwhelmed today, take a deep breath. Write it all down. Choose one or two things. Celebrate what you accomplish. You’ll be surprised at how much lighter you feel—and how those small steps add up.
