3 Steps To Move Through Feeling Stressed And Overwhelmed

One of the things that makes life harder than it needs to be is stress. Finances, difficult situations, and our day to day demands pulling us beyond our capacity all add stress to our lives.

Originally, our body’s evolved to have a stress response so that we can escape from imminent danger. Stress is meant to be adaptive and advantageous. But in today’s world our stress response is activated in new ways that don’t actually threaten our safety. Our minds are misinterpreting the events of modern life and creating reasons to be stressed that don’t align with stress’ intended purpose. 

And it’s doing more harm than good. Not only does stress erode our health but it clouds our judgment and causes us to take action in ways that add on more to be stressed about rather than relieve us of it. That’s why I want to share 3 steps to move through feeling stressed and overwhelmed. 

1. Take 6 slow deep breaths.
   
   Physiologically, our stress response activates the sympathetic nervous system. This sends a rush of cortisol (also known as adrenaline) through our body preparing us for fight or flight. It’s in this state that the human mind goes into survival mode, making choices that are helpful in the moment but have long-term unintended consequences. But 6 slow deep breaths turns the sympathetic nervous system off, immediately makes us feel less stressed, and helps us move forward with a clear mind that isn’t being hijacked by panic and overwhelm.
   
   
2. Identify the sources of your stress.
   
   It’s within this more thoughtful, controlled headspace that you can start to examine what’s causing you stress. The road to feeling less emotional starts with knowing exactly what is causing the stress. Is it fear, uncertainty, sadness, strain, or something else? It doesn’t need to be this underlying chronic feeling… It can be something that’s understood as a response to something specific. Listen to how you feel and figure out what the source of it is.
   
   
3. Determine what’s within your control and what’s not.
   
   Once you’ve identified the source, now it’s time to figure out what you can do about it. The reality is your stress response was triggered by an event in your life. The way through that response is by changing the way you relate with that event, and the way you respond to it. There are some elements of the situation that are out of your control, and there are elements that you can do something about. By separating the two you can determine what’s worth your energy. It’s the Serenity Prayer: “Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference"”

Part of what makes things so stressful is they’re uncertain. You don’t know how things are going to resolve, and what that means for the well-being of yourself and your loved ones. It carries an energy of fear that the worst could happen. But when you know what you can do to impact the situation, you sprinkle in some hope.

That’s not to say that the stress goes away, but it starts to feel more manageable. You aren’t at the mercy of everything around you but you can influence what happens. And it’s with this sense of agency that you take productive actions that actually begin to make progress on the problem that’s causing you stress.

Be patient with yourself, know that it’s normal and it’s not the end of the world. Life might deal you difficult hand but you get to choose how you play it. All you can do your best - You got this!