The Overwhelm Trap: Why Feeling Overwhelmed Keeps You Stuck
Are you Over the Overwhelm Series Part 6
A Quick Series Recap
Welcome to the last installment of our series about the 4 ways overwhelm shows up and how to get over them.
Overthinking
Overgiving
Overtrying
Overdoing
If you missed any of the previous articles, here they are, conveniently linked for your reading pleasure:
Click here for the Overwhelm Article
Click here for the Over-Thinking Article
Click here for the Over-Giving Article
Click here for the Over-Trying Article
Click here for the Over-Doing Article
What If Overwhelm Isn’t the Problem?
What if overwhelm isn’t the problem… but the excuse?
I’m going to be blunt.
In this final piece, we’re going to:
look at how overwhelm can go into stealth mode and become a stopping point
shift your relationship with it completely
give you three simple ways to move through it in real time
When Overwhelm Becomes the Easy Way Out
I’ve noticed something that might be a little uncomfortable.
Sometimes, overwhelm becomes an excuse.
Not intentionally. Not consciously.
But effectively.
As in: I’m overwhelmed, so I just can’t do it.
(Send the email. Have the conversation. Take the next step.)
When overwhelm is used in this way, it’s an easy way out.
You might be scared to take the next step, and so the mind makes up a story saying you’re overwhelmed and that you just can’t proceed.
You don’t have to let overwhelm be the reason you stop.
You’re Bigger Than Overwhelm
Look at it this way: You’re a huge, energetic, brilliant, magnificent being. You’re a creator. You’ve got access to Infinite Intelligence and endless energy.
Do you really think that you can’t overcome overwhelm?
You’re much bigger than that.
There’s always a way through overwhelm, and so if you’re courageous enough to admit that you’ve been using it as a crutch or a stopping point, I invite you to open up to the possibility that with just a few tools, you can move through overwhelm and be on your merry way to creating whatever it is that your heart desires.
3 Simple Ways to Move Through Overwhelm
Here are three simple ways to move through overwhelm.
These aren’t complicated. They’re effective. Which is exactly what you need when overwhelm shows up.
1. Breathe. (Consciously.)
Yes, I know it sounds too simple, but it works 100% of the time. Overwhelm is big energy moving through your body, and if you can direct it consciously through breath rather than be at its mercy, you’ve got it made.
When you slow down your breath, you slow down your mind.
My preferred breathing method is Central Channel Breathing because then you carve a pathway through your system so the overwhelm can move through rather than get stopped up.
2. Get Your Spine on the Earth
Again, the mind is going to say this is a dumb idea and that it can’t be that simple. The mind is wrong. Simplicity is exactly what’s needed when overwhelm comes to town.
Get your spine onto the ground, whether it’s on a yoga mat, a carpet, the grass. Any surface will do. The spine loves to be in contact with a solid surface underneath.
It sends the signal to your system that all is well and that you’ve got this.
3. Brain Dump
Once you’ve done steps 1 and/or 2, take a pen to paper and write down everything that you’ve been trying to hold with just your mind.
Whenever I do this practice, I feel such relief because the mind isn’t meant to hold on to all that stuff. Getting it down on paper gives the brain permission to let it go.
Sometimes I then use the list to figure out what to do next. Other times, I just let it be, and then when I go back to it a few weeks or months later, I’ll see that I’ve made progress on it, even if it hasn’t been my main focus.
It’s the act of releasing it from the mind that’s important.
The Shift That Changes Everything
So here’s the shift.
Overwhelm isn’t something to avoid.
It’s something to move through.
Because the moment you stop seeing it as a barrier…
and start seeing it as energy in motion…
Everything changes.
You stop freezing.
You stop backing away.
You stop telling yourself stories about why you can’t.
And instead…
You take one breath.
One step.
One action.
And suddenly, you’re on the other side of something that used to stop you.
Not because overwhelm disappeared.
But because you got bigger than it.
And that’s who you actually are.
What’s Coming Next
Next week, I’ll be sharing about the many miracles that happened on my trip to Panama, where I co-hosted a yoga and breathwork retreat.
And then came home to snow.
To which I said, “How beautiful.”
This week I’m off to Las Vegas for the first time, and so I say, “Goodbye snow. Again.”
With confident love and vast courage,
Christina
🕺🏻 Creator of Courageous Self-Care
🕺🏻 “Why Vegas?” you might ask. I ask that too. I’m going with my daughter and her boyfriend. They’ll be attending MagicCon (a gathering of Magic: The Gathering enthusiasts). Zoe got invited as a content creator and will be competing with a costume she made. Photos to follow!
🕺🏻 Profoundly enjoying reading The Anatomy of Awakening. It’s a book that really changes everything. I’ll be doing a book study/healing circle on it soon. Stay tuned for details.
PS: If you’re ready to stop getting stuck in overwhelm and actually move through it, this is exactly what we practice inside The BALM.
Simple, powerful tools that help you work with your energy in real time - so you don’t just understand this work… you live it.
You don’t have to figure it out alone.
Come experience it here. ↓