So what's your first thought when you wake up in the morning? Are you looking forward to the day, have yourself well organised, have a clear picture where you are going and what you're doing…….. Or is it something else? Do you have a chaotic explosion of multi layered thought patterns bouncing into each other, a senseless array of indecipherable narrative that runs in a loop? Like the rabbit in Alice in Wonderland, with not enough time to even think about what you need to do next, let alone actually do it?
These are the hallmarks of overwhelm. You feel pulled in every direction, each one leading you toward a dark and hazy path. Sometimes the very act of staying afloat seems impossible. So, you press the snooze button, pull the duvet over your head and pray for another 15 minutes of peaceful respite from this inevitable sense of impending doom!
Overwhelm is an emotional and psychological state where we feel completely inundated by a situation, set of circumstances, or emotions, to the point where it becomes incredibly difficult to manage or function effectively. It often occurs when the demands placed on us exceed our perceived capacity to cope, leading to feelings of stress, anxiety, and helplessness. This turns up as mental confusion, physical exhaustion, or emotional distress, making even simple tasks seem insurmountable.
Overwhelm could be seen as a useful call to action. It reminds us that there are still some things that we need to do in order to make sense of our world. Chaotic thinking in itself is not a bad thing, as it demonstrates our ability to think laterally and consider options, alternatives and new paths. However if we leave it just as the mess that is, we will achieve little or nothing.
So, the big question is what else can we do? Instead of going down the usual lines of “I can't cope”, “this is too much”, “I'm all alone” on this or “it's all going to fall apart”, a more resourceful starting point may be to adopt a position of curiosity. How is this experience turning up in my life? Is it an oppressive set of pictures or images, a fast paced, high pitched loud narrative stream of negativity? Or is it heavy dark cold sensation in your chest? Only you will know this experience and it may be useful to get familiar with this (For a very short period of time!). If you know how your experience is structured, you can easily change this with some simple tools. By changing one or two of these key features you will quite radically change the way that it affects you.
I used to work for a team who were black belts in the art of “it's complicated”. By the time that we had discussed any topic it had become so overwhelming that we had fallen into the analysis paralysis trap. There are times where this process is useful or indeed essential. However we need to be selective about when we use this frame. Mixing overcomplication with overwhelm can be a toxic, numbing poison.
Neuro linguistic programming offers a range of tools and strategies to help you manage these states plus many more. Its elegance is in its simplicity, and outcomes are often speedy and effective. Sometimes you don't have to wade through the deep, dark and murky depths of your negative experiences to get your outcome. Sometimes solutions are simple and elegant, What we have to work on is to find the difference that makes a difference
Be kind to yourself, and at this point give yourself a kiss…..Keep It Simple Stupid!
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