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During a coaching session with a client last week, I could see within 30 seconds of starting our Zoom call that she was distraught.  She had red blotches creeping up her neck, her face wash flushed, and she was talking so fast she ran herself out of breath.  At my first opportunity I broke in, “Okay, we need to hit the pause button.  Now, close your eyes and let’s do some breathing.”  After a serious of deep breaths, I could see she was calming just a bit.  I continued “now, before you open your eyes, as clearly as you can, describe how you are feeling.”  Without hesitating, “I’m overwhelmed!”  “Yes,” I responded, “I see that.”  With a few more prompts, we were able to get to the main cause of the overwhelm, which provide a starting point.  

It's not uncommon to feel overwhelmed especially with all our daily responsibilities vying for our attention.  Feeling overwhelmed to the point of physical reactions can feel scary.  This doesn’t mean we can’t handle what’s on our plate, it just might require a different approach to the challenges.  If this is you right now, I’d like to offer some suggestions on how to approach it:  

• Get to the bottom of the key issue creating the overwhelm.  If you’re unable to pinpoint the cause, try talking with a friend or trusted colleague.  Often times we don’t really know the issue until we say it out loud.

• Once you know the root cause, create a very clear and aggressive plan to address the issue.  When we see progress, even a little, it can significantly relieve some of the overwhelm.  It allows us to feel more in control and maybe even see the light at the end of the tunnel.

• DO NOT PROCRASTINATE.  If the overwhelm feels like it’s just too much to tackle, we might have the tendency to put it off – maybe we just can’t face it or we think it will go away.  But we know the reality of what that will do, it only makes the feelings of overwhelm linger longer and cause us more stress.

Tackling the tough things are not fun.  They might even insight some fear in us because we don’t know how it will all work out.  But trust me when I say that tackling what’s really causing the overwhelm, even a little each day, is far more productive than letting it just cause more anxiety and stress because it was ignored.

What kind of overwhelm are you struggling with?  Be brave, dive into it and get it off your plate.