Why You Feel Constantly Overwhelmed (It’s Not Always Simple)
Constant overwhelm has different emotional and physical manifestations for everyone.
Your emotions might be heightened all the time, so you frequently “blow up”. Maybe you’re disconnected from yourself and others, so you don’t express your emotions. Instead, you shut down. This makes it nearly impossible to complete tasks, be present, and maintain healthy relationships.
Feeling constantly overwhelmed can also result in physical symptoms, such as:
Headaches
Chronic pain
Chronic fatigue
Digestive issues
Many of us tend to dismiss less obvious symptoms and don’t realize that there’s a bigger root cause.
It might not be obvious to you that your nervous system is in a state of overwhelm. You feel like something’s wrong with you. You might feel like you’re lazy or incompetent when there’s something deeper going on. Maybe you frequently have brain fog or think too slowly. You might struggle to relax, even when you’re doing an activity you enjoy or think you should like.
As a somatic healing practitioner, I see clients who struggle to live their lives. They’re constantly overwhelmed, but they don’t always know why. If this is your experience, you don’t have to accept it. You can increase your capacity for handling stress.
Let’s talk about why your body and mind might be constantly overwhelmed.
Why Do I Feel Constantly Overwhelmed?
There are a lot of reasons you might feel overwhelmed. Your emotional or physical reactions may seem disproportionate to your situation. If this is the case, somatic work could be beneficial for you.
Some common causes of overwhelm include:
Trauma
One or more major life changes
Chronic stress due to work, financial, or relationship challenges
Too much responsibility/an inability to delegate (which can lead to burnout as well)
Certain mental health conditions (this can make you more susceptible to overwhelm)
Oftentimes, we don’t realize we’re taking on too much until we reach an emotional or physical breaking point. But the cause of your overwhelm might be less obvious than taking on too much. Yours might have built up over time, and it may not manifest as a big emotional blowout.
Overwhelm doesn’t always result in an outburst. For some, overwhelm causes the body and mind to enter a state of collapse. In this state, you’re emotionally and physically shut down. You might not realize that your tendency to dissociate is the result of being constantly overwhelmed. Hyporeactivity is common in individuals who suffer from mental health disorders like PTSD¹.
I’ve mentioned that trauma may not be the reason behind your mind-body disconnect. Some people who suffer from constant overwhelm and dysregulation haven’t gone through a traumatic event. Maybe you've been experiencing heightened levels of stress and your nervous system is trying to deal with the stuck stress energy.
You might be in survival mode and not realize it. Your nervous system struggles to recognize the difference between safety and danger. You likely feel constantly overwhelmed because your nervous system is trying to keep you safe every time it detects a threat. Each time this happens, your system expends energy and increases activity in your brain stem and limbic system². This cycle of constant overwhelm gets in the way of your ability to:
Make decisions.
Become and stay motivated.
Pay attention.
This impact on your brain stem and limbic system makes it hard for you to engage in critical thinking. The consequences of this show up as your struggles at home and work.
How Constant Overwhelm Can Affect Your Home Life
When you struggle with stress, relationships become much harder.
Your mind-body disconnect might lead to:
An inability to trust yourself, your abilities, and your decisions.
Difficulty trusting and feeling safe with others (especially if trauma is involved³).
Relationship struggles that stem from your lack of capacity to handle interpersonal stress and conflict.
When you’re constantly overwhelmed, you’re likely unable to nurture your relationships. You can't give them the time and energy they need to thrive. You can't bring your best to your relationships when your brain is focused on survival. This emphasis on survival takes away from its focus on learning and growth. You don’t get enough time in the ventral vagal state, where you feel safe and social.
While it's normal to feel disconnected sometimes, baseline feelings of safety and connection are essential for healthy relationships. Your emotional and physical overwhelm affects your ability to connect with others. This also translates to your professional life.
The Effects of Being Constantly Overwhelmed at Work
A certain level of stress is healthy, but being constantly overwhelmed is not. Your nervous system might overreact to challenges and minor stressors at work. Whether you end up in fight, flight, freeze, or collapse, your work suffers.
Your brain can’t focus on decision-making or problem-solving when it’s in survival mode. It prioritizes survival over everything else.
You might struggle with:
Completing everyday tasks because you feel unmotivated and disconnected.
Trying to progress to a higher position because you’re overwhelmed by the challenge.
Deciding what you want and need to do to feel fulfilled (within your current job or if you want to find another job).
Physical symptoms of nervous system dysregulation can also affect your work performance. You might experience:
Chronic pain.
Difficulty falling or staying asleep.
Anxiety, depression, or other mood disorders.
Feeling constantly overwhelmed can wreak havoc on your mind and body.
How to Reduce Constant Overwhelm
There are some strategies you can try at home for managing stress. It's important to remember that these healing methods might not work for you, especially if you're suffering from severe chronic stress and overwhelm.
Journaling
Meditation
Taking more breaks
Spending time in nature
These approaches can help you reconnect with your body and emotions, but a lot of people need more. Depending on the severity of your mind-body disconnect, you might need to work with a somatic practitioner.
Two somatic practices that I frequently use with my clients are Somatic Experiencing (SE) and Safe and Sound Protocol.
Studies have found that SE techniques can help with overwhelming reactions. It does this by expanding your nervous system’s capacity for stress and deactivating stress energy that’s been stuck in the body. One particular study found that patients with trauma were able to boost the effectiveness of SE by practicing techniques on their own after sessions with a practitioner⁴.
Safe and Sound Protocol is another somatic practice that can help reduce the frequency and intensity of your triggers with filtered music that stimulates the vagus nerve. Healing requires ongoing work, but these techniques are a great foundation. They help many of my clients decrease their overwhelming emotions and body responses.
If you experience intense reactions or find yourself shutting down often and you live in Florida or Illinois, reach out. I’d love to hear from and discover if this work is right for you.