Season 2 Episode 1 | Overwhelmed or Busy? (why it all suddenly feels like too much)
Episode Summary
Some days it feels like everything needs something from you. Your attention, your time, your energy even your patience.
By the end of the day, you couldn't tell someone exactly what was so difficult. All you know is that even the smallest thing feels like one thing too many.
It's the email you can't quite bring yourself to reply to or the phone call you keep putting off. The washing that's still sitting in the machine that you keep promising you will get to. The random question someone asks that somehow feels bigger than it should and makes you feel angry for no reason.
Nothing feels impossible on its own. But somehow, everything feels heavier than it did yesterday. So you start looking for the obvious answer. Maybe you've taken on too much. Perhaps you have been working too hard and you need a weekend off. Or you're just tired. Either way you start believing you've become less patient, and less capable of handling multiple tasks.
So you reassure yourself that once life calms down, you'll finally feel lighter again. Except life does calm down and its not necessarily better. The deadline passes, the phone stops ringing, the children settle down, the weekend comes and goes, yet somehow, that heaviness is still there.
Here's what makes it so confusing. It's not that you're carrying one impossible thing. It's that you've become so used to carrying everything that you no longer notice what it costs you. Now it's become the reason why you can sit down for five minutes and still not feel rested or why the smallest interruption feels bigger than it should.
Why someone asking you one more question can feel like one demand too many, even when they're asking kindly.
Perhaps you've simply been carrying far more than you've ever stopped to notice. Until one day, it all catches up with you.
Not because anything extraordinary has happened, but because there's simply nowhere left to put it all.
Every request feels urgent and every decision feels heavier than it should. Even the smallest inconvenience feels enough to tip the balance, leaving you wondering how something so ordinary could suddenly feel so overwhelming.
By the time life feels overwhelming, you're rarely responding to the moment you're in. You're responding to everything you've been carrying long before today ever began.
In This Episode, We Cover:
Why you feel overwhelmed so quickly, even when nothing in your day seems big enough to explain it
The real reason emotional overwhelm can build long before you notice it
How suppressing your emotions can leave you feeling emotionally exhausted without you even realising it
Why pushing through isn't always the same as coping and what it may be costing you
What feeling overwhelmed all the time may be trying to tell you about the emotional load you've been carrying
How everyday stress quietly builds so even ordinary moments begin to feel overwhelming
Why your nervous system can stay on high alert long after the moment has passed
A simple somatic practice to help you interrupt overwhelm and reconnect with your body before it takes over
How working through your emotions before you become overwhelmed can help you find your way back to yourself
The Invitation
The pause this week
Number 1: When you get to that point where you are overwhelmed, come back to your body.
Sing. Dance. Wiggle your hips. Wiggle your bum. Tap. Whatever it is that it takes, spend a couple of minutes simply coming back to your body.
One of the most powerful ways to come back to your body that most people don't realise is laughter.
So if you can spend time with someone who really makes you laugh. As soon as you begin laughing, your nervous system starts regulating.
Number 2: Create a new relationship with overwhelm.
When you become overwhelmed, let it become a signal. A signal that you've already bypassed your feelings. Simply notice that overwhelm is telling you something needs your attention.
Number 3: When you're ready, gently reverse.
Start with the most recent emotion you felt before you became overwhelmed. Forget about six hours ago. Forget about ten days ago. Just begin with what's right there. If you're not ready, don't force it. Stay with your body for as long as you need. When you are ready to feel then you can process the emotion.
Work With Muneeza
Living in a constant state of overwhelm can become so familiar that you stop questioning it.
You tell yourself this is just what life feels like. That once things settle down, you'll finally be able to breathe again. But when every day feels like you're simply trying to keep your head above water, it's easy to lose sight of just how much your body has been carrying.
The thing is, lasting change doesn't come from learning how to push through more. It comes from creating the space to work with the emotional patterns your body has been holding onto for years. That's exactly what we do together inside somatic coaching.
It's a space to gently process what has been suppressed for so long, helping your nervous system discover that life doesn't always have to feel so overwhelming.
If you're ready to stop carrying everything on your own, I'd love to support you.