When the world around us goes crazy it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. Perhaps you are feeling overloaded or engulfed in some way today. Your sense of overwhelm might come from:
- Fear
- Anxiety
- Grief
- Stress
- Anger
- Emotional upheaval
- Too much to do
- Overstimulated by chaos around you
- Too many people demanding your attention
- Too many unknowns
I could keep going but I’m betting you relate to at least one of these. We all feel overwhelmed at times by the ups and downs of life.
It happens.
But, we don’t need to stay there. Here are some suggestions to help you work through your overwhelmed emotions and find some peace in the midst of the chaos or trials.
Strategies to cope when you feel overwhelmed
- Choose your focus. Our thoughts, emotions, and attitudes are fed by what we choose to focus on. When we focus on the problem or the negative feelings, it’s much harder to move past them. Instead, take this piece of advice from the Apostle Paul and focus on the positive:
Finally brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable—if there is any moral excellence and if there is anything praiseworthy—dwell on these things.
Philippians 4:8 (CSB)
- Turn off negative inputs. We cannot turn off the world, but we can choose to stop tuning in to news or media channels that are feeding our inner turmoil. We must take an honest look at what we are allowing into our homes and our heads. In times of emotional upheaval, when we don’t have our normal, healthy ability to cope, we need to more closely monitor what we read, watch, and listen to. Reducing the negative input will help you find balance.
- Find ways to process. When we feel overwhelmed we need to process the feelings in a healthy way. I am not a fan of journaling, but when it comes to processing strong emotions, journaling is a valuable and effective tool. We can pour our thoughts, feelings, fears and frustrations onto paper with no fear of judgment. No one but us need ever see them. Grammar, spelling, and legibility are completely unimportant. We can immediately dispose of the results if we want. Venting verbally is another option. If you have a trusted person you can talk to, by all means take advantage of their loving ears. If not, find a secluded place and talk out loud to yourself or to an object (or a pet) you choose as your listener. (It sounds strange, but don’t knock it until you’ve tried it.) Yet another way to process is to get active. Exercise is an effective way to work through the affects of emotions and overwhelm.
- Practice good self-care. Never beat yourself up for feeling overwhelmed. Instead, be kind to your whole person, body, mind, emotions, spirit. Get enough rest, resist the urge to binge eat junk food, and do activities that restore and rejuvenate your depleted energy and coping abilities.
- Find solitude. When we’re feeling overwhelmed, we need peace and quiet more than ever. Even those of us who thrive on social interaction need times of solitude and quiet. Time spent in prayer, mediation, or soaking in the peace of a quiet pathway will help you cope.
- Serve others. If you have difficulty focusing on the positive, find something worthwhile to do. Not only does work give your brain something to focus on, when we choose to do something for someone else it boosts our inner self as well. Serving others may seem counterintuitive when we feel overwhelmed, and it may be the last thing we feel like doing, but give it a try. Even a tiny gesture of doing something for another can help.
- Seek wise counsel. Sometimes we are in over our heads. Sometimes we just need help seeing the big picture and finding our balance. Sometimes we need professional help to find our way out of the trauma. If your feelings of overwhelm persist, seek help. Find someone you trust to help you find a qualified counselor.
We cannot control the chaos in the world around us, but we can control how we respond to tough or scary times when they come. I hope these suggestions help you choose to cope and work through the trials instead of allowing the chaos and overwhelm to sweep you away into despair.
