Being detached from how you feel is one of the first signs of being overwhelmed. Simple questions seem impossible to answer and choices between the most mundane things suddenly rise up like mountains to climb. Loss or dampening of a bodily sense can happen, like your hearing feeling muffled, no smell or even not being able to taste food. Your brain can feel like it’s working in slow motion  or wired to be on over drive. Even reading this can seem too much so let’s STOP;  take a break now… Place your hand on your heart and take a big breath counting 4 on the intake, hold for 7seconds  and breathing out for 8 seconds …you can do this 5 times or more.

Well done, you have just given your self permission to have time out from the world. You matter and have given your body that time to rest, to not be thinking of the past or future, just focusing on your breath. You do not have to suffer in silence, pretending to everyone that you’re ok when sometimes life feels like its outrunning you. You just spent a few moments listening to your breath, listening to you and no one else.  Being overwhelmed is a physical sensation, your body is responding to life events and is tired of being ignored. Sometimes even just acknowledging ‘I hurt,’ ‘I’m lonely,’ ‘I’m frightened,’ or even ‘ I’m tired of putting everyone first,’ can help you check in with your true feelings under the veneer of ‘IM FINE’.  There are many ways for you to listen to YOU, as a counsellor and psychotherapist we spend time with clients helping reconnect with how you feel rather than life telling you how you should feel. Spending time with friends, making space for you, allowing your self to relax may at times not feel possible. However being overwhelmed is a way the body is saying MAKE TIME, I MATTER, PLEASE MAKE IT POSSIBLE.