What is Your Overwhelm Experience?

ʻStress.ʼ It simply isnʼt a complete description of experiencing those moments where everything in life feels like itʼs weighing you down, slowing your pace, numbing your senses, pulling you in a million directions, yet not moving you anywhere! Personally, I prefer the term ʻoverwhelmʼ because it more accurately describes the general heavy feeling of ʻweighted-down-ness.ʼ

My hunch is Iʼm not alone. Have you noticed how often the word ʻoverwhelmʼ comes up in conversation lately? Maybe even more so than before? Possibly even from your own lips?

With so many people living diverse levels and types of daily overwhelm, it may look and feel different for each person. Unlike the ʻfight or flightʼ response of stress, overwhelm is the ʻfreezeʼ response. We live surrounded by deadlines, traffic, financial worries, endless streams of information, family responsibilities, perfectionist tendencies, a long list of expectations, etc. This overwhelm grows layer upon layer weighing on us. Overloaded with the weight, it can short-circuit our lives, leaving us stuck in the rut of overwhelm.

Short-term, situational overwhelm may be highly stressful but living with the chronic weight each day is also overwhelming. Whether a single catastrophic event or a build–up of smaller events forming an avalanche of overwhelm, it can surprise us by rolling up behind us or by ʻhitting us over the head.ʼ Both can shock us, and so often we donʼt see it coming until it crashes.

What aspects of your life reflect the overall overwhelm of living full-on in todayʼs complex society? How does overwhelm show up in your hectic life?

What does overwhelm feel like for you? Consider your typical day. It may include work, meetings, school, children, intimate relationships, family, friends, exercise, meditation, hobbies, sex, food, chores, errands, cleaning, emails, Tweets, and so on. Or do you neglect huge sections of this list to make time for other areas of life? Do you prioritize chores over self-care, or work above friendships? Youʼre not alone.

At times, you may find yourself hit by overwhelm in one area after another area of life, like a growing wave. It may start with working longer hours due to work expectations and fear of financial pressures, then impact your relationships because people donʼt see you as much, and eventually target your health from a lack of exercise and poor eating due to not taking care of yourself.

The domino effect of overwhelm!

Recognizing the early signs of overwhelm alerts you to the start of a process before it tumbles into your whole life. Where are you at now? What do you struggle to truly appreciate and celebrate about your life? Which of the questions below are hard to answer, and which do you long to know the answers to?

What areas of your life are typically overwhelmed? How are they overwhelmed: stuck, weighted down, and/or ignored? What beliefs keep you overwhelmed?

• How do you experience overwhelm? When you feel overwhelmed, where does it show up in your body? Where does it lead your thoughts? How are your emotions impacted? What is your energy like?

• What are your Gifts (your fantastic talents)? How are you using your Gifts? How are you undervaluing them?

• What is your passion? Where is it hiding in your life? What does it feel like to live fully ʻOn Purpose?ʼ

Itʼs hard to enjoy life when youʼre buried under overwhelm, unable to budge or breathe. Overwhelm stifles your ability to listen clearly to your heart, knowing and trust in yourself…your Inner Wisdom. You live numb to yourself.

The key motivation of my book, Rock Your Overwhelm: Live in Clarity, Balance and Freedom is to help you see overwhelm more clearly on the horizon, enhance your awareness of beliefs keeping you overwhelmed, consider thoughtful decisions, and take positive action. Hopefully, you will build a stronger resiliency to future overwhelm and move into living your best life.

Life gets overwhelming. It may even feel overwhelming as you read this! You may visit overwhelm more often than youʼd like, and/or something may keep you in overwhelm. So, is it time to shift your overwhelm experience?

In 2012, I gently challenge you to manifest the life you really want, free of overwhelm. You can do it! You do deserve it! Ready to release your overwhelm?

Whitney McMillan, bestselling author of Rock Your Overwhelm: Live in Clarity, Balance and Freedom

Website: www.whitneymcmillan.com
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Rock Your Overwhelm Author, Coach & Facilitator
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