How I’m Finding My Way Out of Overwhelm

Feeling Stuck

Drowning in the Overwhelm

There’s a point where everything feels too much. The to-do lists, the expectations, the endless stream of demands — it all starts piling up, and before you know it, you’re drowning. That’s where I’ve been lately. Trapped under the weight of it all, struggling to breathe, to think, to just get through the day. Overwhelm isn’t just a word — it’s a suffocating reality, a heavy fog that makes even the simplest tasks feel like mountains.

I wake up each morning with a knot in my stomach, a sense of dread about everything I need to do, everything I’m supposed to be. It’s like being caught in quicksand — the more I struggle, the deeper I sink. And the worst part? The world doesn’t stop spinning. The demands keep coming, the expectations keep rising, and I’m left feeling stuck, paralyzed by the sheer enormity of it all.

But here’s the thing: I can’t stay stuck. I can’t keep drowning. I’ve got to find a way out, a way to break free from this overwhelm and start living again, not just surviving.

Facing the Fog

The first step, I’ve learned, is to face the fog head-on. It’s easy to get lost in it, to let it consume you, to just give up and let the overwhelm take over. But that’s not living — that’s surrender. So, I started by acknowledging where I was. Not sugarcoating it, not pretending it wasn’t as bad as it felt, but really looking at the mess in front of me and admitting that I was overwhelmed.

There’s something powerful about naming it, about saying, “I’m overwhelmed, I’m stuck, and I don’t know how to get out.” It’s like shining a light into the darkness. It doesn’t make the mess disappear, but it helps you see it for what it is — something you can tackle, piece by piece, instead of an amorphous monster looming over you.

So that’s what I did. I stopped running from the overwhelm and started facing it. And in doing so, I began to see a path out.

The Small Steps

When you’re overwhelmed, everything feels enormous. Every task, every responsibility, every decision looms large, like an insurmountable mountain. But I realised that the only way to climb a mountain is one step at a time. So I started taking small steps. Tiny, manageable actions that, on their own, didn’t seem like much, but together started to make a difference.

I broke things down — tasks, goals, even my thoughts — into smaller, more digestible pieces. I made lists, prioritized what really needed to be done, and let go of the rest, at least for now. And those small steps started to add up. I wasn’t sprinting out of the fog, but I was moving, and that was enough.

Each day, I focused on just getting through the next thing. Not worrying about tomorrow or next week, but just handling what was in front of me. And slowly, I started to feel a little less stuck, a little less buried under the weight of it all.

Letting Go of Perfection

One of the hardest lessons I’ve had to learn in this process is letting go of perfection. I’m the kind of person who wants to do it all, and not just do it, but do it perfectly. But perfection is a trap, especially when you’re already overwhelmed. It’s like trying to run a marathon while carrying a backpack full of bricks. You’re not going to make it far before you collapse.

So I started giving myself permission to be imperfect, to do things “good enough” instead of perfect. It wasn’t easy. It felt like I was lowering my standards, like I was failing. But the truth is, perfection was what was holding me back, keeping me stuck. By letting go of it, I freed myself to move forward, even if it wasn’t in the ideal way.

Sometimes, getting something done is better than getting it done perfectly. That’s a hard pill to swallow, but it’s necessary. I had to accept that I couldn’t do everything, and I certainly couldn’t do everything perfectly. And that was okay.

Finding Moments of Stillness

Amid the chaos, I realised I needed to find moments of stillness. Not just breaks or distractions, but real moments of quiet where I could reconnect with myself, with what really mattered. It wasn’t about escaping the overwhelm, but about creating a space where I could breathe, reflect, and recharge.

These moments didn’t have to be long or elaborate. Sometimes it was just sitting in silence for five minutes, taking a walk without my phone, or even just closing my eyes and focusing on my breath. But those moments became my lifeline, a way to ground myself when everything felt like it was spiraling out of control.

In those moments, I reminded myself that I didn’t have to have it all figured out. I didn’t have to have all the answers, or even know what the next step was. I just had to be, to exist in that moment, and that was enough.

Reclaiming My Power

The biggest shift came when I realized that, despite the overwhelm, I still had power. I still had control over how I responded to it, how I chose to move forward. The overwhelm might be real, but it didn’t have to define me. I could choose to reclaim my power, to take back control of my life, one step at a time.

It wasn’t about making the overwhelm disappear — it was about learning how to navigate it, how to live with it without letting it crush me. It was about realizing that I was stronger than I thought, more resilient than I gave myself credit for. And with that realization came a sense of empowerment, of determination to keep moving forward, no matter how stuck I felt.

I started focusing on what I could control, on the small victories, on the progress I was making, even if it was slow. I started to believe that I could get through this, that I could find my way out of the fog. And that belief became my anchor, something to hold on to when everything else felt uncertain.

Breaking Free

I’m not going to pretend that I have it all figured out, that I’m completely free from the overwhelm. It’s still there, lurking in the background, waiting to pull me under again. But I’m not drowning anymore. I’m not stuck. I’m moving forward, one step at a time, and that’s enough.

Breaking out of overwhelm isn’t about some grand, dramatic escape. It’s about the small, quiet victories, the moments of stillness, the decision to keep going even when it feels impossible. It’s about reclaiming your power, letting go of perfection, and learning to live with the mess instead of trying to clean it all up.

It’s a process, a journey, and it’s far from over. But I’m finding my way out, day by day, and I’m starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. The overwhelm doesn’t define me. I’m stronger than it, and so are you. We can break free, one step at a time.

Happy Learning ⭐️ 
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