How to Stop Overwhelm Before It Takes Over

Do you know that feeling where you're spinning your wheels with no idea how to get going again?

You can't settle on one thought, one feeling or one task, so you start the washing, open your emails, wander into the kitchen and forget why you went in there (and if your memory's anything like mine, that one happens on a GOOD day😂). By the time you finally come out of it you feel like you've been hit over the head with a baseball bat, dazed and wondering what on earth just happened😵‍💫

😩"I've got SO much to do and I can't even start ONE thing!"

That's overwhelm, my love, and it's one of the most common things that comes up for the sensitive, high-capacity humans I work with.

So if you've been wondering how to stop overwhelm, catch it early. Did you know that stepping away from overwhelm as it starts takes SO much less out of you than climbing out once it's in full swing? I'm going to show you the little check-in I use to do exactly that🤗

Overwhelm is a protective response

Energetically, overwhelm's your system's way of keeping you safe. It stops you in your tracks and keeps you scattered, so you can't anchor into any one thought, feeling or task, and you can't move towards anything your system's decided might not be safe.

It's SO easy to slip into it without realising when it happened. Once you're in it, the scattered energy keeps itself going, and that's exactly what your system wants in that moment.

It doesn't let you connect with anyone or anything, which is why it leaves you SO exhausted.

What causes overwhelm?

There are two causes that come up over and over with my beautiful clients. The first is a fear of moving forward. The second is holding so much that isn't yours that your system's trying to process the whole room.

A fear of moving forward. You feel inspired to do something new, something that moves you towards the life you'd love. Your energy field's still holding beliefs from earlier times you tried something new and it didn't work out, or you didn't feel safe, though. Those beliefs set off patterns to stop you moving, and overwhelm's one of the most effective patterns they've got😬

Carrying everyone else's energy. If you're the one who walks into a room and instantly knows who's upset, who's exhausted and who needs you, you're probably taking alot of that home with you. Your system ends up trying to sort out moods and worries that were never yours to sort, on top of your own day. Of course it short-circuits, my love!

I know that second one from the inside. As a little girl I could read everyone's energy, and I'd bend and fold and contort to keep the peace, carrying every bit of their baggage along with my own for years, until my body couldn't carry anything anymore.

Is this overwhelm even mine?

Asking that question's often the fastest way out. When you notice the spin starting, pause and ask, "How much of this is mine?"

You might find the panic belongs to a colleague, the worry belongs to your Mum, and the rushing belongs to the whole school pick-up line😂 You read it all coz you're SO good at reading energy, and that reading's a strength. What drains you is holding onto it after you've read it.

What's yours, you can work with. What isn't can go back to where it came from. You can't move an energy that doesn't belong to you no matter how hard you try, so letting it go first leaves you with something you can actually work with.

Catch overwhelm in the first flicker

The first signs are small. A little flustered, a little rushed, a bit of tension creeping in somewhere in your body. That flicker's the moment you're about to slip into a pattern, and it's the easiest moment to change course.

When you notice how you feel as you first shift into a different state, you can come back towards something that feels better before the pattern takes hold. Once it's in full swing, it takes SO much more out of you to find your way back.

What if I'm already deep in overwhelm?

Start with your body before your to-do list. Slow your breath, feel your feet on the floor, and pick one small thing to check in with instead of trying to untangle everything at once.

Overwhelm wants you thinking about all of it at the same time, so choose one tiny task. Then the next one. Find one sock first, then the next😂

And be kind to yourself afterwards. Coming out of overwhelm takes energy, so drink some water, eat something nourishing and let your nervous system settle before you ask more of it. If overwhelm's your everyday rather than your occasional, you don't have to untangle it alone either. That's exactly the kind of thing I hold space for🤗