The Idea of the Week
Dr. K from HealthyGamerGG explains how the brain feels overwhelmed, and it may not be what you think. In the 9-minute video, he explains the relationship between passive challenges (challenges you did not choose) and active challenges (challenges that you choose to take).
You feel overwhelmed when the challenges you did not choose (like taxes, bills, health issues, children crying, or an unexpected deadline coming up) outweigh the challenges you do choose.
How do you notice you’re overwhelmed? Here is a list of questions to help you reflect:
- What thoughts or inner dialogue commonly come up when you feel overwhelmed? For instance, “I should be able to do this.” Look out for “should” or “must” in your thoughts.
- How do your thoughts and inner dialogue change when you feel overwhelmed?
- Are there any early warning signs or signals that indicate you might be heading towards feeling overwhelmed?
- What self-care, important tasks, or meaningful activities do you drop when you’re overwhelmed?
- How does your breathing change?
- When you’re overwhelmed, where in your body do you notice tension, discomfort, or other physical sensations?
The Practice of the Week
Feeling overwhelmed (a 7-minute article from Verywell Mind) is a heavy weight to carry that may feel like you will be crushed by the weight or drown in all the responsibilities.
What you do to help ease the overwhelm in the short-term, such as skipping a meal so you can tackle everything on your to-do list, can amplify your feelings of overwhelm.
Even setting aside the active challenges you choose to take, such as learning the guitar or starting a blog, so you can tackle the passive challenges can lead to feeling overwhelmed.
Check out Dr. K’s video above to learn how adding more active challenges in your life actually helps calm feelings of overwhelm.
Here is another technique to conquer overwhelm (3-minute video) by Therapy in a Nutshell:
First step: Slow it down. Grab a piece of paper and dump everything you need to do and everything that is overwhelming you.
Next, cross off everything on the list that is out of your control.
Then, if there is something you need to do about what you cross off, write what you can do. For instance, you can not control your child’s feelings, so cross tantrums off and instead write, “I need to enforce a boundary.”
Now, the remaining items and what you can do is still a lot. We can only do one thing at a time, so circle one action you can take right now.
Then go do that one thing.
News of the Week
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The Thought of the Week
Wishing you a peaceful week!
