Overwhelmed, Anyone?

Cleelia Uudam Costa
4 min readJun 10, 2024

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Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you. (Anne Lamott)

Photo by Jessica Johnston on Unsplash

Feeling a little bit overwhelmed or confused or lost or maybe even stuck somehow?

Every now and then we all feel stuck and overwhelmed and confused. This is a normal part of being human. And when this happens, the best thing is to STOP and breathe deeply.

Take Time and Make Space

Stopping in the midst of busy times might seem counterintuitive. We are taught to get things done by doing more, by going the extra mile. Yet sometimes we hit the limit and need a little reset.

Stopping, resetting is not a weakness. Knowing when to stop, knowing our limits, reading our mind (understanding ourselves on a deeper level than our ego), is a strength.

In case you are today feeling any of this — overwhelmed, exhausted, a little bit lost and confused or even out of alignment with your soul — I kindly invite you to take time and make space for rest, regrouping and contemplation.

Declutter

I invite you to get rid of mental, but if needed also physical clutter. Declutter to make space!

It is no news that our outer and inner worlds are connected. Changing one will impact the other.

When your room is clean and uncluttered you have no choice but to examine your inner state. (Marie Kondo)

How can something new enter into your mind and your life, if it is overly crowded?

This something new could be fresh ideas, clarity, peace of mind or even newly-found motivation.

  • Do a brain dump — put all your mental mess on a paper — just let it all out.
  • Calm your mind — meditate, disconnect from screens, seek for silence, go to nature.
  • And if needed just rest. Sleep. Do nothing. Do you. Let yourself to be.

And then see what comes to you. Answers and solutions come to us when we are not obsessed with the matter in hand. Neuroscientists have found that “moments of creativity take place when the mind is at rest”!

Getting Grounded

I do not know how it is with you, but from my own experience, being in touch with myself, being able to listen to my inner wisdom is an important part of my mental wellbeing.

Whenever I get caught up in a busy season and fail to take time to connect with myself, I do tend to feel a bit anxious, lost and under the weather. In moments like this, I make sure to reestablish my grounding routines as fast as possible.

I like to step out to the nature, ground myself on the grass or stare at sunsets, but the most favourite of all for me is writing.. the power of journalling, often after a little session of guided meditation, is real for me.

Photo by Carli Jeen on Unsplash

In case you too have fallen off your grounding routine or never had any special practice, I highly recommend you to get back on that horse or start one.

Whenever you are lost or in doubt or overwhelmed, listening to your inner wisdom and intuition is a powerful source of force — it simply always does know what you need and how you have to proceed.

When it is crowded and noisy and busy, you might not get in touch with your deeper knowing, then creating space enables you to listen, and to actually hear. Being curious and brave when listening your inner wisdom will make all the difference!

Sometimes what you hear is uncomfortable, but despite this you will always know that this is the truth. Your truth.

Slow and Simple

We are living in the era of fast and complex. Yet the power is not always in the quantity, complexity and velocity. Instead power and magic can be found in simplifying and slowing down.

Less is more.

Simplify to amplify.

Slow down to speed up.

Minimize to maximise.

Refine to shine.

What about you? How do you get out of overwhelm and feeling stuck?

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PS! When the feelings of overwhelm and stuckness stay for too long and impact your mental health, it might be a good idea to seek professional guidance.

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Cleelia Uudam Costa

Writing to inspire people to grow into their best version living their dream life. Life & Business Coach. Entrepreneur. PhD. Mom of 4. www.cleeliauudamcosta.com