When Overwhelm silences your Voice

by | Oct 3, 2018 | Blog | 0 comments

Sensory overload. Physical discomfort. Mental gymnastics. Emotions running high.

Hello Overwhelm.

I’ve spent hours this week trying to grapple SEO optimisation and various plugins and the overwhelm has been building. I’m not naturally gifted in the area of website technology, and though I have very generous, patient and gifted friends, I’m also stubborn.

I have stubbornly jumped feet first into things beyond my ken, spending hours doing and redoing work that one conversation or a little research would have achieved in a fifth of the time. I have stubbornly set to-do lists that were unrealistic and gruelling, only adding to my sense of under-achievement.

Why?

I am addicted to Overwhelm. And when I chase down how I got to this place of exhaustion and mental fatigue, I am met with an uncomfortable truth; I created my own Overwhelm.

I wrote the lists, took on the tasks, said yes to doing everything TODAY, and I refused myself rest.

I had set myself up for Overwhelm and it obligingly hit this morning, as I sat poised to tackle my next task. I couldn’t focus and I could feel myself upset and emotional and exhausted. I finally admitted to myself that I would produce nothing good until the Overwhelm subsided. I lay down with my cat for company and simply rested my body for 30 minutes, allowing my mind to slow and wander. This is not the first time my cat has demonstrated abilities I lack – they are champions of restful mindfulness and I find mine a wonderful companion as I try to detox from my tendency to Overwhelm.

Perhaps you are in a similar place today?

Perhaps you are a Third Culture Kid or expatriate overwhelmed by all the changes and transitions that are whirling around you. Perhaps you are struggling with chronic illness or pain and overwhelmed by the competing demands on your limited energies. Perhaps you are balancing competing identities, never fully feeling ‘you’ in any one of them.

Where is your Voice in all of this?

What are your ambitions? Your priorities? Your hopes, fears, delights? Overwhelm distracts us from our own Voice, silencing our Story with a cacophony of busy noise.

I was grateful for the time to rest today. I was glad of the chance to chose Peace over Overwhelm; the chance to listen for my own Voice, sounding my own priorities and shaping my own Story.

Have you heard your Voice today?

Contact me for a free consultation to explore how Life Story Therapies can help you take some time to find your Voice in the midst of your Overwhelm.

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