Feeling Overwhelmed?

Overwhelm. This is something I feel a lot of lately. I think many people can relate. Information overload can leave you feeling drained, disoriented and emotionally dysregulated.

Feeling Overwhelmed?

Personally, I feel this with the flood of information coming from all sources. I have also recently moved to a new state, a new house and started my practice in a new city. It has been a lot!

I wish I could say I use all the tools in my therapist tool box and am gracefully juggling it all! Well, not really. I am juggling, but not so gracefully I am afraid. I have found a thing or two to keep me from drowning in it all. I will share those below.

However, more than sharing tools I would like to share my experience of overwhelm and those of people I know. My hope is that you might find your own experiences there and perhaps feel a little less alone in it all.

That brings me to my first point. Connection. I could go on and on about the state of the world, the impact of the pandemic and how we, as a society, are increasingly disconnected. You probably know all of this already.

Connection has become more and more important in my life. Having recently moved away from family and friends I have felt how important this is to my own mental wellbeing. FaceTime helps, texting frequently helps and my furry best friend who saw me through a lot of alone time during the pandemic, is always at my feet.

But these are the things that work for me. Not necessarily you. One of my greatest take aways from years analyzing characters in the theatre and 16 years as a therapist is that everyone is very unique. I struggle to give what I consider sound bite advise. There are things that work for many people but at the end of the day you must know yourself well enough to choose the right interventions.

It is why I struggle to get these newsletters out each month (or maybe I am just overwhelmed). I literally cringe at mental health memes despite understanding their utility. “Just be your authentic self” “Live your best life!” As if it were that easy.

So, I often try to weave into my newsletters the best advice I believe I can give most of the time. Know yourself. Self reflection and activities that promote it are at the root of all self care. If you don’t know yourself, how can you know which meme to follow!

But I digress, and perhaps am contributing to your information overload. Stop. Breathe. Check in. How does it feel to read this? What does your body tell you? Where are your thoughts? Perhaps you just don’t know. And that is ok too. That is where you are at.

Right now I am itching to reach for my phone because I have found a couple of comedians who make me laugh a lot. This is my new morning routine. I go straight to finding links to their stand up and bypass the news. I have found I start the day with more pep and less doom.

My body is also telling me that I have sat in front of my computer for too long today. My neck says I need to do some yoga. This is my other go to for more stability and lightness. I highly recommend it though have admittedly gotten out of my daily practice. And if I am truly honest, I have not had a daily practice in years.

Which brings me to my last point. Have grace with yourself. Beating yourself up will not help. And beating yourself up for beating yourself up is definitely futile as I have tried it myself many times.

Rather than following my sound bite advise of “don’t beat yourself up” however, I would recommend getting curious. Why am I doing that? Get to know that part of yourself. You may not like that part, but perhaps it serves a purpose for you. Perhaps it means to protect you. Perhaps that part developed because of trauma or neglect or just good old fashioned societal pressure.

Wherever it came from, having awareness and compassion for that part of yourself can go a long way. Especially if you are experiencing overwhelm. Sometimes I will take a moment to check in with the different parts of myself that are particularly triggered by overwhelm. It often tells me a lot and helps me have more compassion for myself.

But often I do not, and I give into the overwhelm with bad habits instead. And that is ok too. We are all human and for collective and individual reasons many of us are feeling the overwhelm a lot lately.

If you or someone you know in Colorado, Arizona or Wyoming could use some support in getting to know parts of themselves better or need help processing through difficult experiences please give them my information. I would be happy to do a complimentary 15 minute consultation to see if I might be a good fit.

www.DesertBloomTherapyEMDR.com