Have you ever felt so overwhelmed, you didn’t know where to start, so you didn’t start, and that compounded the overwhelm? This phenomenon has been faced by humans for millennia. And with the world the way it is right now, it’s no wonder use of the word, ‘overwhelm’, has been rising exponentially since 1940.

Recognise yourself? How different people respond to overwhelm

Ignoring the problem

Kayla’s mum died five years ago, and ever since, her mother’s possessions have been sitting in boxes in Kayla’s garage. Every now and then, she opens the door, looks at all the stuff, feels overwhelmed, and closes the door again without sorting a single thing.

Doing more

Suma takes care of everyone except herself. If you have a problem, go to Suma and she’ll get it done. The more exhausted she is, the more she volunteers, even though her health is suffering.

Endless List-making

Sam works for the family business but wants to move interstate to work in his dream profession. He makes endless lists about what he’ll need to make it happen, but he takes no action.

Losing your temper

Nat cares full-time for three young children while her partner, a FIFO worker, is often away. Sometimes, she screams at the kids for minor things, and is later filled with remorse. She vows to keep her cool next time, but something always tips her over the edge.

What’s really going on?

Has Kayla had a chance to grieve her mother’s passing? Is a part of her afraid that seeing her mum’s things will bring up painful memories?

Did Suma learn at a young age that the only way to get love is to be of service? Is her self-worth tied to being needed?

Could fear of uncertainty or fear of failure be lurking underneath Sam’s many lists? Writing them helps him to feel in control, but since he never takes any action, each list merely serves as a Panadol temporarily soothing his deeper fears.

On top of the very real practical demands of parenting three young children, is Nat grieving her career? Or perhaps she’s secretly resenting her partner for being away so much even though they agreed to it? Has she decided to “suck it up”?

In each of these circumstances, each person is understandably feeling overwhelmed due to external circumstances, but at the same time, there is more going on beneath the surface that is contributing to the overwhelm.

So what to do?

When a person is stressed, their fight/flight/freeze/fawn response kicks in. It’s an automatic survival response that’s designed to operate for a short duration to help you escape danger. This response uses a lot of energy, requiring the body to divert energy away from other systems of the body such as digestion. When you remain in that highly stressed state for long periods of time, your body isn’t able to assign energy to do the things it needs to do to remain healthy.

How do we calm the fight/flight/freeze/fawn response so that it only switches on when it’s actually needed?

How EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) can help

First of all, know that overwhelm isn’t a personal failing. Many people experience it and there are ways to help you feel grounded, safe and supported.

In an EFT session, the practitioner always starts with whatever emotion the client is experiencing in the moment, be that overwhelm, sadness, anger, numbness or something else. The practitioner will guide you through a process of gently tapping on specific points on your body to assist you in gaining immediate relief. This evidence-based tool gently calms your nervous system so that you can feel safe enough to begin the deeper work of unearthing what is beneath the overwhelm.

At the end of a session, you’ll come away with a simple stress-relief technique that you can use at home, and a plan for how you and your practitioner can work to safely discover and heal the root cause of your pain, at your own pace.

If you’d like to experience this technique, book a discovery call with me here.

To learn more about how EFT works, click here.