By Hannah Mosser, MA, LPC
In my work, I often hear clients describe themselves as feeling anxious and overwhelmed. More often than not, they tend to be almost paralyzed by these feelings; at a crossroads where they are uncertain of how to best proceed. One of my favorite descriptions of anxiety is likening it to sticking your head inside of a washing machine that’s spinning, and feeling like everything is swirling around you.
While I feel dizzy thinking of this analogy, I believe that many of us can relate to the idea of not knowing how to get started with x, y, or z. We get lost in not knowing what to prioritize, so we tend to procrastinate on beginning anything that might help us decrease these feelings of overwhelm. We find ourselves wondering where all of our to-do’s came from in the first place? Then we wonder why we’re wondering about these to-do’s! Why can’t we stop overthinking everything? Well my friends, you have come to the right place!
1. Check out “The Lazy Genius” Podcast
A helpful place to start sorting through thoughts and actions contributing to feeling overwhelmed, is listening to this podcast. It’s created by an incredible woman, Kendra Adachi, who started a brand called The Lazy Genius Way. Her tagline is “be a genius about the things that matter and lazy about the things that don’t.” I love that so much! I love the freedom in this idea that not everything matters and shouldn’t require the entirety of our time or attention. This linked podcast is one (of her many) on list-making and in it she describes what I believe is a genius way of setting and identifying priorities. She indicates that when she’s feeling overwhelmed, she’ll “brain dump” her stressors into a list, and then go through the list and label each item as “now, soon, later, or never mind.” (I secretly love the “never mind” category.) This helps to identify what your priorities are, and when your priorities are. This also provides a starting point to move out of your head, address the tendency to overthink and into a discovered sense of direction. It also allows you to see some of the things causing you to feel overwhelmed aren’t actually all that important or relevant to your current circumstances and priorities.
2. Journaling
Classic counselor thing to say, I know. But similarly to the aforementioned list-making brain dump, journaling functions as a release. It’s simply a place to let the thoughts that distract you as they circle through your mind, finally finding some other place to live. Some of my clients are averse to the idea of journaling, as it can feel “cheesy” to write in a notebook something like “Dear diary, today I… .” However, I personally think journaling has gained a bad reputation. Journaling is meant to be for you. It could literally be bullet-pointing all the thoughts that are adding to your feeling overwhelmed. You could journal by writing a not-to-be-sent letter to someone who is stressing you out, as a means of processing through what you would like to communicate if given the opportunity to do so. Journaling can be a five-minute “free write,” where you jot down everything that comes to mind over the next handful of minutes. At its core, journaling is intended to function as a release for your mind, to help process through some of the thoughts causing you to feel stressed out.
3. Exercise
In a similar way that our thoughts can contribute to feelings of being overwhelmed, our bodies physically hold tension. The mind-body connection is a real thing, so odds are that if you are experiencing stressors in your mind, your body is also experiencing and holding discomfort. So, exercise! This could look like taking your dog for a walk around the neighborhood, going for a light jog, weight-lifting, taking a yoga class, rock climbing, hiking; the list goes on. Like journaling, it’s less important about how you are exercising more about just being active in some form or fashion.
4. Counseling
Perhaps you’re reading this blog and thinking that what is causing you to feel overwhelmed is too much to tackle on your own. Maybe you are feeling lonely and recognizing a need for someone to walk alongside of you as you seek relief from the thoughts that are difficult to silence, change, or sort through. If this is you, professional counseling might be a great fit for you.
Taking next steps
Lime Tree Counseling offers a number of services to help you be the best version of yourself. We would be honored to talk with you and see what we can do to help you navigate a healthier, less overwhelmed way of living. If you would benefit from anxiety counseling, trauma counseling, grief counseling, marriage counseling, Christian counseling, online counseling in Pennsylvania, online counseling in Colorado, or online counseling in North Carolina please reach out today!