Have you ever felt overwhelmed? Understanding exactly what's happening in your brain and body when you feel overwhelmed is the key to: 1. getting out of the feelings in the moment, and 2. ending the pattern of feeling overwhelmed in the first place.
There are a few main points to bear in mind:
- All negative emotions are a level of the "fight-freeze-flight" emergency stress state
- During this state, stress chemicals, including adrenaline and cortisol are pumped into your bloodstream
- In addition to a range of other physiological effects, the emergency "fight-freeze-flight" state causes blood to drain from the prefrontal cortex of your brain - effectively taking it offline
- Since the prefrontal cortex is where you do your cognitive thinking: problem-solving; strategizing; and processing information, this affects all "higher levels" of thinking, including communication and comprehension.
- The more stressed you feel (or anxious, or angry, or despondent, or frustrated - or any other negative emotion), the more the level of those stress chemicals in your bloodstream increases.
- The more the levels of stress chemicals increase, the longer the prefrontal cortex stays offline... and ... well, you can see the vicious circle.
The feeling of overwhelm comes from trying to use the cognitive thinking part of your brain (the prefrontal cortex) while it is effectively incapacitated due to lack of blood-flow.
So, What's the Solution?
In the moment, the top priority is to reduce the levels of stress chemicals in your bloodstream in order to eventually bring your prefrontal cortex back online.
Now, because your brain and body don't know the difference between reality and imagination, as long as you are thinking about, or focusing on, things that make you feel bad (worried, anxious, frustrated etc.), your brain and body are going to continue to maintain the same state of emergency they would if you were in physical danger. And that means that as long as you are focusing on whatever it is you're feeling stressed or overwhelmed by, the more of those stress chemicals are being pumped into your bloodstream - and the longer your prefrontal cortex will remain offline.
As much as it feels counter-intuitive, in order to bring your prefrontal cortex back online, so that you're able to think clearly, strategize, problem-solve, and deal with the issue effectively, you need to take your focus off it! Not forever, not even for a long time - just temporarily, in order to get your brain and body back into chemical balance.
Here's How:
- Line up a funny video on YouTube (laughing babies are an effective option - or your favorite comedian)
- Notice the feeling of overwhelm, and how strong it feels - just very briefly, don't sit in it, just notice briefly
- Press "play" on the YouTube video, and watch until you smile or laugh, then press "pause"
- Now, check the feeling of overwhelm or stress again - notice if it's still the same, or different - again, just very briefly notice
- Press "play" on the YouTube video again, and watch until you smile or laugh, then press "pause"
Note: You can use music that you love, or physical exercise, or a game - in place of the comedy video, if you like.
Keep repeating these steps until you can't find the stress or overwhelm feelings any longer.
BUT... Do Not go back to whatever it was you were stressed by - yet!
Now that you're feeling calmer, just THINK about the thing you were overwhelmed by - and notice if there are any negative feelings. If there are, repeat the steps above.
Finally, when you can think about approaching whatever it was that had you overwhelmed, without feeling stressed, you'll know that your prefrontal cortex is back online, and you are in a more empowered and productive state, to deal with it!
I will write another post on how to get rid of the "triggers" for feeling overwhelmed and stressed.
But, in the meantime, if you can't wait for that post (or if you're just interested anyway), here's more information on the subconscious triggers for stress, and how to change them:
The Board Game Version:
https://www.patreon.com/posts/changing-board-19069932