Healing the Overwhelm

Overwhelm.

The other Big O.

It hits all of us at some point or another in our lives but it effects some of us far more deeply and profoundly than others (especially if you are a high achiever and/or highly sensitive as many of us are). It can often be debilitating. 

I am one of those people.

As I have openly discussed in previous writings, we all develop stories about ourselves and life early on which then create a filter for all of our experiences. If we don’t think there’s a story all we must do is look at our external lives and the repeated challenges we face and we can begin to figure out the story; it is more often than not, a direct reflection.

The subconscious “I’m not good enough” story that I told myself as a reaction to various stressful situations as a child and adolescent created a foundation of anxiety and thus overwhelm as I tried to prove that I was in fact good enough. Every. Single. Aspect. Of my life has been defined by this and therefore it’s no surprise that I have lived a stressful life where a sense of overwhelm is usually present.

And this is the case for so many of us; we subconsciously choose a life based off of the story that we often don’t even know is running the show. But let us not be confused as this is not a scary thing! This is actually empowering as we can take control of the situation once we begin to pinpoint the story and take responsibility.

And healing the deep sense of overwhelm that so many of us can feel on an everyday basis (especially as you step into new realms of upleveling) is no different.

So what do we do? How do we begin to take control and heal this?

We take responsibility. We do not run from it. We do not suppress it. We do not pick up our phone and scroll through social media until it goes away. We own it. We own the feeling. We befriend it. We give a voice to it. We actually feel the experience of it.

We as a human race are incredibly intelligent. We have more information than ever before at a speed that is quite literally impossible to keep up with (this often actually adds to the overwhelm). We have more access to knowledge than we know what to do with at the click of a button; Our brains truly have never been filled with more information.

But as smart as we are, we can not think our way through our healing. We can not read our way through our pain. 

No no no. Healing is in the body. Yes, information and mindset is extremely important but the way you are feeling IN that mindset is where you begin to transform on the deeper, lasting levels. Connecting to your own experience, not running from it, is where your power and clarity lies. 

More information does not necessarily correlate to more healing.

So now I ask you, what do you say to yourself when you are feeling overwhelmed? What is your reaction to the discomfort? Where do you feel it in your body?