5 Ways to Care for Yourself When You Feel Overwhelmed

Inside: If you are feeling overwhelmed by life, these five tasks can help you take care of yourself so you can find a little more clarity and calm.

It happens. You’re moving along at what you think is an acceptable pace, and then WHAM. Reality hits. You can’t possibly do everything you thought was possible.

Please tell me I’m not the only one this happens to…

If you are starting to feel overwhelmed, try these self-care activities:

1 – Go outside when you are starting to feel overwhelmed

Nature is healing. Not to sound all crunchy, but nature really can help your brain chill out.

Leave your phone inside and take yourself outside!

Studies show that when we are outside, we get a brain boost. We calm down because cortisol levels drop, and we generally allow our bodies to start healing.

2 – Eat a healthy snack when you start to feel overwhelmed

Does anyone else get hangry?

I saw a sign once that basically said, “Are you overwhelmed and anxious? Check to see if you are hungry or tired.”

It seems so simple, but when we are hungry, small problems can seem really big. Then, all sense of logic gets away from us and we can blow things way out of proportion.

If you are feeling overwhelmed and irritable, grab a healthy snack and then look at your tasks in a whole new light.

3 – Do ONE thing.

When you are starting to feel overwhelmed, taking any actions can seem paralyzing, so you want to curl up in a ball and just give up.

Doing everything on your to-do list is way too much. There aren’t enough hours in the day or energy to go around, so what does one naturally do when feeling overwhelmed? Give up. At least, that’s something I’ve been known to do!

If you are feeling like this, try to pick just ONE thing you will get done. Then, if that’s all you do, you’ve moved the needle. You can go to bed knowing you made progress on something overwhelming, and you keep moving forward, small steps at a time, until you are done.

4 – Get a good night’s sleep.

My crazy always seems less crazy when I’m well-rested.

I get it. When I feel overwhelmed I often think the only way to get it all done is to stay up late and cram in as much as possible, which starts another day’s cycle of feeling tired, irritable, and even anxious feeling.

When you feel overwhelmed, go to bed early. When you wake up well-rested, planning what can reasonably get done is a whole lot more logical.

My morning self always has a lot more optimism for the day, likely because I have a lot more energy after sleeping!

5 – SIMPLIFY.

If you are overwhelmed, your systems may be too complicated.

What can you cut out? What can you delegate? What can you get rid of?

When we have too much, we can start to feel overwhelmed. Too much can be:

• Too much stuff
• Too many obligations
• Too busy of a schedule
• Too busy of a kids’ schedule
• Too many decisions to make

When you start cutting things out of your life that are excessive, you will start to feel less overwhelmed. It’s almost magical how healing it can be to your overall mental health.

Slow down, cut out the excess, and allow yourself to rest

I hate to feel overwhelmed. It’s an inevitable part of life, but these things always work to help get my mind on the right track when I need to chill.

What works for you when you start to feel overwhelmed? Let me know in the comments!