In the throes of overwhelm, it’s hard to see the value in supporting your wellbeing. But in these moments of overwhelm, we need resilience. Neglecting our wellbeing leaves us with nothing to draw on and we increase our vulnerability to being overwhelmed in the short and the long term. So, good wellbeing = resilience.
I want to be clear that supporting your wellbeing is more than just implementing ‘self-care’. It is frequently doing things that will improve your wellbeing, sometimes even if you don’t want to do them, (like exercising when you can’t be arsed). Hopefully the below ideas provide new options and frameworks for supporting your wellbeing and reframe its importance in reducing overwhelm.
1. Accumulate positive emotions by doing things you enjoy –
Neurotransmitters and hormones released when we are mindfully doing the things that we enjoy (such as oxytocin, serotonin and endorphins) counteract those released when we are overwhelmed (such as cortisol and adrenaline). You can’t be both stressed and happy (for example) at the same time. You can move between them, which is why you may still think you are overwhelmed during these tasks. You can overcome this by practicing mindfulness in these moments.
So, make time and plan to do the things you enjoy. The goal is to collect pockets of positive emotions throughout the day/week/month to counteract the feelings of overwhelm and to allow the chemistry of enjoyable experiences to increase your resilience.
2. Build Mastery –
This is a technique that helps you build feelings of accomplishment, competence and confidence to release the positive neurotransmitters and hormones that build resilience. Think about how differently you feel when you’ve successfully done something you are good at, versus where you doubt how well you did; the body chemistry is completely different!
Building Mastery, therefore, creates reserves of positive experiences you can draw on to increase your resilience and reduce your vulnerability to overwhelm. You can Build Mastery by:
- Playing to your strengths and approaching a task according to what these are.
- Do something every day you know you are good at.
- Notice small wins and focus on those, rather than looking at the large, looming picture of a big workload.
- Challenge yourself, where you feel you can. This exaggerates a feeling of achievement.
3. Stop Procrastinating –
Sometimes, the best thing for our wellbeing is to simply get something done. That one thing that has been hanging over you for ages that you don’t know how to deal with and feel overwhelmed and the very prospect of starting it? Just start somewhere. Commit to sitting down and getting it down, even if you just set a timer for ten minutes. Reframe the decision to just get a task done as putting yourself first and removing the overwhelm it is causing you to make yourself feel better.
4. Physical wellbeing –
Physical wellbeing begets emotional wellbeing. Where we are not physically well, the mind/body system is more likely to push itself into the stress response and resilience is severely compromised. Focus on the below:
a. Nutrition: eat balanced meals (include carbohydrates, fats, protein and fibre) and make sure you eat enough
b. Sleep: make sure you get good quality sleep
c. Movement/exercise: find a type of movement you enjoy! Walking is hugely underrated.
d. Socialise and spend time with friends and family: it’s in our biology to feel safer when we are with people, counteracting stress and overwhelm. Time with friends and family also contributes to accumulating positive emotions!
e. Treat illness: don’t power through the day when you’re feeling unwell. You will have minimal resilience and will be very vulnerable to being overwhelmed (picture a toddler when they are unwell!).