11/18/2025
The first step is usually small:
• “I have too much to do.”
• “I can’t handle this.”
• “What if this goes wrong?”
• “I’m falling behind.”
This thought might feel normal at first. But your brain interprets the tone, urgency, and fear it hears, and not logic that its okay. This alone is enough to activate your “threat response.”
So then your brain sends a message to your nervous system that something might be wrong. And your body jumps in to help you prep:
• Heart rate increases
• Muscles tense
• Breathing gets shallow
• Thoughts get faster
This is why overwhelm feels physical ... because it is. Your body is preparing for danger, not just a busy day at work.
Once your nervous system gets activated, your thoughts become more dramatic to justify the physical sensations:
• “I’m going to mess this up.”
• “I can’t catch up.”
Your mind tries to make sense of the alarm bells going off internally.
This is the “confirmation loop.” And it is the moment your mind feels threatened, it starts looking for more things to worry about.
Overwhelm thrives on extremes or All or Nothing Thinking:
• “I’ll never get this done.”
• “Everyone else handles this better.”
The more overwhelmed you feel, the harder it becomes to stay grounded in the present moment. At this point, your mind and body aren’t working together and your survival system is now running the show.
You may feel:
• easily triggered
• like tiny tasks feel huge
• pressure to get everything perfect
• guilty for not doing more
Negative thinking doesn’t cause overwhelm.
It happens because your nervous system is trying to protect you and sometimes it helps too much.
When you understand the steps of overwhelm, you gain the power to intervene earlier. You start recognizing the signs and shift from reacting to responding.
