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?
Compare yourself to most women in the world:
* Don’t ever get a chance to relax * Don’t feel they can ever do enough * Don’t feel they can catch up with all they need to do * Don’t feel the demands on them will ever stop * Feel sad and hopeless about the direction of their lives
Women are set up to be overwhelmed because of the unique elements in their lives: women work inside and outside the home; women have the greatest love and commitment to their families; women often care for others; women receive a message from the world of what they should be; women lack energy and time.
Many of the emotional and physical symptoms you experience may be a result of overwhelm. Health symptoms related to other conditions may be exaggerated by stress and overwhelm. On this list, which factors apply to you? If you have 3 or more of these symptoms, you will derive great benefit from lowering your stress:
* Lack of focus * Anger * Sadness * Weight problems * Exhaustion * Frustration * Resentments * Hopelessness * Loss of sexual interest * Health issues * Sleeping problems * Discouragement * Loss of humor * Crankiness * Relationship problems
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.
3 feelings are present when overwhelm takes hold:
1. You feel helpless to stop what’s causing your overwhelm
2. Not being able to feel a sense of accomplishment no matter how hard you work
3. 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.
There is a cure for an overloaded, overtired, overstressed, and overcome life. The first step is realizing that overwhelm is not in your house or in your career…overwhelm is in your spirit. Your spirit is that part of you which needs to feel purpose, which needs fulfillment, and which needs joy. To bring those feelings back to your life, you’ll need to connect to your true loving self, and connect to your own true values. Surrender your agendas, let your heart rule your head, and you’ll move from overwhelm to joy.
Carole Bryant speaks on simple steps to growing consciousness. She counsels people with stress and trauma issues, and teaches them how to develop loving attitudes of mind. Surrender Your Agenda, her course for women, takes you out of overwhelm and into a life of fulfilling purpose. Sign up for her free Joy Notes emails, CaroleBryant.com.