When we’re overwhelmed, it’s hard to know where to begin. Sometimes our brains feel gauzy, emotions run, behaviors slip. These can affect relational dynamics, communication, creative and strategic thinking and more.

I’ve noticed a theme with people I know and partner who enter overwhelm and default to overdrive with the belief pushing harder to get more done will create control. Yet does it really? I did it for years until it didn’t work anymore, and today I must still be mindful.

If we observed a beloved friend caught in this cycle, pushing themselves beyond what’s reasonable, what wisdom might we offer them?

Many of us cognitively know the powers of taking pause, resting, breathing deeply, being in nature, the benefit of play, creativity, learning. These are all battery chargers that countless articles and thought remind us of. What’s in the way of actioning on just one, even if it’s for a few minutes? Often I hear it’s the time crunch. I get it, I feel it too!

Fear. Worry. Scarcity. Anxiety. Saboteurs. The Inner Critic. Being hooked by these push us to press on and ignore our bodies trying to tell us we’re in a survival response. Survival mode is primal and there for a purpose, not to live in it every single day. It’s painful and adds up with a real toll. We can choose differently, and our health, relationships, accomplishments and more, will thank us.

How might you relate? How do you know you’re in overwhelm? What’s one move you might make to honour your brilliant being today?

Thanks Shirzad Chamine, Positive Intelligence, Tara Sophia Mohr, Moving The Human Spirit and Jennifer Garvey Berger for your collective wisdom that informs this share!