Feelings of overwhelm, with aspects of your life or your responsibilities, can have a significant impact on your mental health and wellbeing. These feelings can grow to develop into anxiety and other mood disorders and feeling all-consuming. Before you let the overwhelm take control of your life, here are six ways to relax when you feel overwhelmed.
TAKE A BREAK. SOMETIMES
This may feel counterintuitive after all the faster you get through whatever activities or tasks you have to do the quicker you finish, right? However, sometimes the best way to relax is to take a break from everything. Get up and walk around, take a nap, or just step away from your work or home life for a little while. This can help refresh your mind and body and put you in a more productive state to complete your task.
COMPLETE SOMETHING YOU NEVER FINISHED
Another way to relieve overwhelm in your life is to restart a task that you’ve not yet completed and finish it. The task can be anything big or small, whether it is related to your current goals or not.
Why is this helpful? Because you’ll achieve a feeling of accomplishment by completing this task. Even a small thing that you have been putting off, can ignite that sense of achievement. This can provide the impetus you need to complete a bigger or more complex project relieving a lot of the stress and overwhelm you are currently experiencing.
VISUALISE WHAT YOU WANT
Visualisation is a very powerful, almost magical tool for increasing relaxation managing stress and improving resilience. It may require a little practice to being with time you’ll be able to hack your emotions and more importantly your physiological responses by making a conscious choice about what you experience for part of your day. Go into this practice with intention and purpose to ensure success and be imaginative. Allow your imagination to be creative and open-minded, dream up something you would love to experience and take yourself there.
DEVELOP HEALTHY SLEEP HABITS
Everyone needs good quality sleep This should be your top priority, whether you’re experiencing stress and overwhelm or not. Sleep is essential for your mind, body, and soul. You need rest each night to clear away the toxins and support focus and energy. Getting fewer hours of sleep for even a few consecutive nights can have the same effect as staying awake for 24 hours straight. Over time poor sleep will only enhance stress and fatigue while reducing proper brain functioning. Take a look at your sleep patterns and how you’re feeling and make changes where necessary.
DECLUTTER AND GET ORGANISED
Feeling overwhelmed can often be caused by having too much to do and not enough time to do it. One way to reduce this feeling is to get organised. Make a list of what you need to do and when, what you can delegate, ignore and leave for a later date and try to stick to those urgent and important tasks as best you can, leaving for rest
Along with getting organised, de-cluttering your life can also help reduce levels of stress and overwhelm. Start by getting rid of items that you don’t use or need anymore. After that, look at the areas most affected by your stress and see what else you can do to make those areas feel less overwhelming.
TALK TO SOMEONE
Finally, if you are feeling overwhelmed and need someone to talk to, don’t hesitate to reach out to supportive friends or family members. Talking about how your feeling can help you feel better and more in control.
