Nowadays, people are more in tune with their psychological and emotional states. What used to be swept under the carpet, is now taken into consideration and worked to solve. With time, we have come to understand that efficiency, productivity and good performance at work is not only the direct result of having technical skills or not. Now we care about soft skillslike emotional intelligence or effective communication. We care about our workers’ mental health, psychological safety within the teams and the company, inclusion, group cohesion and much more.
Today, we know that things like stress, anxiety, depression, or simply feeling overwhelmed can have a huge impact on our performance. Today, we care much more about the people… And all of this is partially to say that it is okay to care about these issues, to say that feelings of overwhelm are important enough to be taken care of. It doesn’t need to be something that we’ll say don’t worry, it will pass eventually, you can do something about it, and we invite you to do it.
Work does not have to be a source of constant stress and pressure. You can enjoy it and still deliver excellence. And we understand that is not an easy task to do, sometimes things pile up on our plates and every little thing can feel as heavy as an elephant, as if it is way too much… let us help you break down that feeling so you can understand it and work through it.
What does it mean to be overwhelmed?
Imagine you are carrying a picnic basket. Inside the basket there is food, drinks, sunscreen, a blanket, and other picnic stuff. Now let’s say that you are also wearing a camping backpack, with rope, clothes, a lantern, a sleeping bag, and so on. On top of that, you are carrying the tent, the fuel for the fire and some wood pieces… If you don’t collapse to the ground for all that weight, you had to be Hulk or have some kind of super strength.
In real life, outside these imaginary scenarios feelings just like the one described earlier can be common. One can feel that is carrying too much to handle, even if there is only one thing on our plates. Because, feeling overwhelmed has nothing to do with how many responsibilities we have. Kids with no other responsibility than feed the dog can feel overwhelmed with emotion sometimes and cry for no apparent reason.
An image that helps me clear the meaning of what is like to feel overwhelmed is the idea of being buried under a big mass or drown in the middle of the sea… That sense of feeling small in front what is all around you, that you are somehow surpassed from what is in front of you, that is how feeling overwhelm tends to look like. You can have your own definition, and it is totally valid too.
At work, to be overwhelm can look like feeling that you can’t keep up with all your deadlines and demands. That sense of mental fatigue that makes it very hard to focus. Those time management problems increasing at a fast pace. You might feel like you don’t have the support system you need, or the required skills to overcome the obstacles in your way.
There might be a lot of stress and pressure on your shoulders. Some people get very anxious when they can’t seem to find what to do with all that is on their plates, other’s get paralyzed. Whether this feeling is triggered by a particular situation, or it just happened out of the blue, it can have a strong impact on your performance and wellbeing… so why don’t we go through some possible causes that might help you understand it better?
Why does this happen?
Our modern world goes at a relentless pace, we care about health, but we are still on the hustle. We are on a never ending race against time. We seem to always be running out of it, and having everytime more and more things to complete in that never enough amount of time. The sense of being out of time can be very stressful, and even affect your personal life. Imagine getting home from the office but still be thinking about the huge to-do list you left behind. How can you rest and disconnect if you are feeling some type of guilt about being resting because there is much more to do? And just give it a thought on how it can interfere with your health not to be able to disconnect from that kind of stressful situations.
Perhaps you have a very demanding manager that is not contributing to your stress levels, or that requires more than is on your jobs description. For example, let’s say that you are a community manager and your boss is asking you to do the designs for social media and you are not a designer, that could be stressful and overwhelming to anyone. To be in the position where you have to deal with a demanding client or supervisor, to have to set respectful boundaries of what is part of your work and what is not.
An overwhelming situation that most of us have experienced is to feel that we don’t have the necessary tools or skills to do something. Sometimes the tools we need is a support system within our teams, someone to lend a hand or gives us another perspective. It could be that we are literally unprepared and need some new training or simply imposter syndrome making a stellar appearance on our week. What if you are not unprepared and just in need of a little guidance? That’s what supervisors, managers and teammates are for, to help you find the right approach when you can’t seem to find it by yourself.
Something we don’t always pay much attention to, that could be a very big stressor is to feel that we are not paid fairly enough for our work. And even though sometimes there is nothing one can do about it, it needs to be taken into account when listing possible stressors. If you feel like your work is underappreciated or undervalued, you won’t be satisfied with the company and every single little problem can become a significant one. If you don’t feel well with your work, chances are that you might get overwhelmed much more easily.
Those are some pretty common causes that can help you identify what might be causing that overwhelming sensation, use them as suggested guidelines of where to look for, you might find your cause nearby some of them or maybe it could be the opposite, but the important part here is that you would be looking for it, and that is a great start.
Signs and consequences
Stress, anxiety, depression, and so on can be underlying that sense of too much to handle. Or the other way around, being constantly overwhelmed can derived on something clinically serious, so please be alert to the signs and aware of the consequences of it. Right now is the time to give attention to the issue, you just need to identify it and do something about it.
Some people get sick as a somatic response to their stress. It could manifest with headaches, fatigue, stomachaches or else… it is not always the same, you might get the flu and be completely okay and in control with your work. But stress can have an impact on your immune system, you could be more likely to catch a flu when having repeated episodes of acute stress or while experiencing chronic stress. So it could help you turn on the alarms if you feel like having chronic headaches all of the sudden, it might be a way that your body is asking you to slow down or pay close attention to your wellbeing. And, of course, if your body asks for help and you don’t answer, there could be severe heath issues on the table, a stomachache can become and ulcer, a headache in migraines and so on.
If you can’t think of anything other than work or are just able to do so for a short period of time… get that checked. Constant worry and preoccupations can interfere with your sleep and make it really hard, some people even spend their sleeping hours dreaming and thinking about work. And I don’t mean the kind of dreaming about work that can happen when you are extra motivated for a new project, I mean the kind of dreaming about that immense to-do list on your desk. You can’t relax, even the time you spend trying to or sharing with friends and family seem to be shadowed by those stressful thought bubbles. In the long run, someone with an anxious predisposition can have a really hard time to turn off those thought, they can become intrusive. Add to that the sleeping disorders like insomnia, yes, we all have had some sleepless nights thinking, but if it becomes a constant in your life, your body won’t be well rested, neither will your mind and that is another set of problems.
You could find yourself eating differently. To some people, stressful situations dismisses their appetite. They start eating less, giving less fuel to their systems, perhaps drinking more coffee to compensate for the sleeping issues. They lose energy and start to feel exhausted all the time, they could start losing weight, or develop some other kind of heath problem nutrition related. Some other people do the opposite under stress, they could turn to binge eating. This could look like an effort to drain somehow that anxiousness of feeling like they are underperforming at work, or very heavily occupied with no time to deliver properly. It is important to look after these changes in habits as soon as we realize them, because they are closely related to our physical health, and as much as we need our skills to do a good job, our bodies are the ones taking us to the office every day.
What can you do about it?
There is no magic one and only general solution for this. Most likely there could be some steps that could clear the path in most cases, you should take the ones that resonate best with you and what you are going through… Let’s dive into them.
1. Find what triggers the overwhelming feeling
There might be many triggers, it could be the deadlines, your manager, or some personal situation that might be reporting on that sensation. But ask yourself what is the heaviest weight on my bag? If I suppress X thing off my plate how relieved would I be? And even if you can’t magically eliminate those heavy things on your list, knowing the triggers is the first step towards tranquility.
Let’s say that the biggest trigger is a big project, identifying it can help to prioritize it, break it down into smaller parts, find the required resources to get it done, and so on. When the feeling strikes, ask yourself why? Where does it come from? And getting to have those answers is the baseline you need to develop healthy and effective coping mechanisms that will make you thrive.
2. Take it out of your head
From time to time, what worries us can be a little inflated on our minds, the feeling of overwhelm can be bigger than the actual problem, and there is no clarity if we keep it inside the same messy headspace.
Try to find a needle in a haystack, just as hard can be to pin down a trigger or its solution if we keep it all mental. Try to write it down, use post-its, a whiteboard, or a simple piece of paper. You can write a list, make some drawings, whatever suits you best, and helps you visualize in the outer world the concrete things that need to be done, and the specific steps that need to be followed. That way you can take away a little emotional baggage from it and just focus on walking forward, one foot in front of the other, one step at a time.
To some people, having a daily journal could work identify and keep in check those concerns. It could be a way to unload the mind at the beginning of the day to start fresh and ready to conquer what comes your way.
3. Set limits and respect them
We know that setting the boundary between work time and personal life is easier said than done, and that work/life balance is sort of a myth… but the first limits that need to be set and respected are the ones we put to ourselves. You need to respect your sleeping schedule, and food schedule, go to work on time, try your best and disconnect from it at the end of the day, what needs to be done at the office can wait for you to worry until you get there the next day.
It is normal to feel like we need to double it down and do many extra hours if we feel like we have too much on our plates, but mental and physical health should be the pillars of our lifestyles, so the first limits we need to set are the ones that will preserve them. Remember that recharging is the key to resilience, keeping it sustainable is what will allow you to have a long and successful career.
4. Ask for help and delegate
Prioritizing can do wonders for you, you can worry about what is urgent and important and start organizing the work in a smart way that helps you get it done rather than stress you and paralyze you. Look at your set of occupations and ask yourself what requires your absolute attention and what can be delegated or reprogramed to do later. This way you can find yourself using your time more effectively, getting done what needs to be attended first, minimizing the costs if something gets done a little late, and creating a support system of people that can help you out when you need it.
A good leader knows when to delegate and when to ask for more time if it is necessary, you don’t have to figure it all out by yourself, help can come in many ways, even from a piece of well-intentioned advice from a coworker by the watercooler
5. Seek professional help
At the end of the day, you know yourself better than anyone else… Feeling overwhelmed can be something manageable, but sometimes it can’t, and that’s okay too. If the feeling is getting too much of you, the best solution is to seek professional help. Whether it is a coach, a psychologist, or any other specialist in the area you need help with, there is nothing wrong with knowing your own limits of what you can manage. Those professionals are prepared and ready to help you out, whether is a time management coach so you can deliver on time, or a psychologist so you can regulate your anxiety, don’t hesitate to seek help if you feel like you need it.
It is okay to feel overwhelmed from time to time, work can have its ups and downs. Projects can vary from easy to challenging and so on, but when the feeling becomes regular, it needs to be closely looked at and attended to. We all want to enjoy our work lives, we invest a lot of time and energy in our career growth to become the best version of ourselves. Don’t let an overwhelming feeling shadow all your good efforts, there’s always something that can be done… so, what are you waiting for?
