Overwhelm: To overcome in mind or feeling; to load with an excessive amount of anything
Most of the world’s women are overwhelmed. Overwhelm can destroy your joy, and overwhelm can waste your life. How does your overwhelm affect you and affect those you love?
If you’re like most women in the world:
- You can’t catch up with all you have to do
- You don’t get any real relaxation
- You seldom feel you are doing enough
- You feel powerless to stop the increasing demands on you
- You are frustrated, sad, and angry with your life’s direction
As a woman you are set up to be overwhelmed because of the unique factors you deal with: Your commitment to your family, your work inside and outside the home, your caring for others, the world’s message of what you should be, and your lack of time and energy.
Check the list below to see which factors describe you. Many of your symptoms may be a result of overwhelm. Some symptoms attributed to other factors may be increased by overwhelm. If you experience 3 or more symptoms, you could greatly benefit from lowering your stress:
- EXHAUSTION
- ANGER
- LOSS OF HUMOR
- SLEEPING PROBLEMS
- FRUSTRATION
- CRANKINESS
- RELATIONSHIP PROBLEMS
- WEIGHT PROBLEMS
- RESENTMENTS
- LOSS OF SEXUAL INTEREST
- DISCOURAGEMENT
- LACK OF FOCUS
- HEALTH ISSUES
- SADNESS
- HOPELESSNESS
Overwhelm does not go away on its own, and it can get worse. So how can you lose the overwhelm, and get your life back? How can you control your stress and overwhelm and bring joy back into your life? Any real change begins with an understanding of what is causing overwhelm and a course of action.
Overwhelm can occur in life when 3 feelings are present:
- Not being able to feel a sense of accomplishment no matter how hard you work
- Feeling helpless to stop the factors that are causing overwhelm
- Feeling hopeless and feeling despair knowing that you do not see relief in your future
If you are overwhelmed now, you may react by creating more and more agendas and plans to control it. You may be trying to organize, eliminate, communicate, and dictate to keep it away. You may have become a person you don’t want to be. You may have lost your ability to share and connect with your family and friends. Your head is running your heart. You may be filling yourself up with busyness to maintain a sense of worth.
What’s the cure for overwhelm and what heals a life which is overloaded, overtired, overstressed, and overcome? A realization that your overwhelm is not in your career or home, but in your own spirit, that part of you which needs to feel purpose, fulfillment, and joy. To do that you must connect to your deepest values and your true loving self. You can move from overwhelm to joy when you surrender your agendas and let your heart rule.
Joy & Blessings, Carole xx