Introvert ways to deal with overwhelm

Hello and welcome to The Traveling Introvert. Today, I want to talk about different ways to deal with overwhelm and overwhelm can come in many different shapes and sizes. It could be overwhelmed from all the tasks and the projects that you've taken on and not setting good boundaries. It could be overwhelmed from overstimulation, from too much music, noise, crowds, that sort of thing.

 

There are so many different types of overwhelm and know the difference between what that experience is and how you feel after that experience is highly important. But one of the things that's really helpful is, you know, acknowledging the chaos outside or inside. Be honest with yourself about it. If you're feeling overwhelmed, overstimulated, pushed to the brink, acknowledge that fact instead of trying to push through and just getting it done, acknowledge how you're feeling, get in tune with it, maybe sit for a minute and think, why might I be feeling this?

 

Is it the music or is it the type of music or is it the volume of the music? It could be a small thing that needs changing that would make all the difference. Is it because you're hyper focused on it and you need to just go somewhere else? Acknowledging it and and not pushing through is a great thing.

 

Pushing through can be detrimental. Pushing through stops you from adjusting your actions and prioritizing yourself. So don't do it. Stop. Take a breath. Figure out exactly what it is that is causing that discomfort, that overwhelmed that feeling of that feeling, of of that brick wall, that tiredness that you're feeling. That's really helpful. Getting in tune with that. If you don't acknowledge what you're feeling, you can still burn out and then you can easily go about berating yourself or feeling down about it rather than acknowledging it going, OK, this is what's happening.

 

What steps do I need to do to make that change? And something to think about also is a lot of the time when we're feeling overwhelmed, overstimulated, the the thing that we like to do is just shut everything down, like I'm going to go into a cold, dark place and leave me the hell alone.

 

You don't necessarily need to do that. Sometimes you do. But once you kind of pull in, maybe you end up not seeing the bigger picture, maybe go on a downward spiral. Maybe everything he's thinking just, you know, you start overthinking and thinking bad thoughts.

 

So, yes, you might need to shut down and get some inner peace, but also reach out, explain yourself, tell another person, say, hey, I'm going to do X, Y and Z because I need a B, and F, whatever that might be. Letting someone else know what you're doing, why you're doing it and how you're feeling is huge. Because then next time, if you say to that person, hey, I'm doing this because of X, Y and Z, they might say, well, last time you did this, this and this, did it not work out for you or is a different thing or what should we try this time?

 

And just making people aware of how you're feeling lets them know that you care and that you are including them and you're not just blocking everybody out. So that is something that I highly, highly recommend.

 

Now, that's just some like spur of the moment feeling overwhelmed sort of a thing. But what about enable yourself to prevent exhaustion and overwhelm to a degree, because you can't always know that it's going to happen. I know I've definitely tried some things sort. I've been consistent that one day it's like, no, this week has been different and so it's not working.

 

So it's really important to schedule some you know, they call it self care time. Your own time, whatever it is, is sort of a mini retreat, even if you don't have the time or finances or things to do it like a vacation, you can probably set aside a day or two for a mini you retreat. And here's some things that you can do for that retreat. Maybe take a two day hiatus from social media, an email or just like devices so that you can read and wander and daydream and do whatever it is that makes you and your body feel good rather than being at the beck and call of your devices.

 

You know, do a lot of brainstorming and reading outside or in bed, so it feels like it's a treat rather than a chore, you know, take yourself and do cool stuff for the day, go for a picnic, go for a walk, treat yourself to ice cream or whatever it is.

 

These are things that give you the space and the brain space as well to go ahead and deal with everything else in your life, giving your brain that time to think and do what it pleases without being at the beck and call of a device or other people is invaluable. So thank you for listening. This is janice@thecareerintrovert.com helping introverts build their brand and get hired.

 

If you have any questions for me or things you'd like me to cover on the show, please email me at janice@thecareerintrovert.com.

 

Have a great rest of your week.