How to Stop Feeling Overwhelmed

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Overwhelm has a very specific texture.

It’s not always panic. Sometimes it’s quieter than that. It’s the feeling of opening your laptop and immediately wanting to close it. The way even small decisions feel oddly heavy. The sense that no matter what you do first, there will still be too much left.

For a long time, I thought overwhelm meant I was doing something wrong. That I needed better systems, more discipline, or a clearer plan. But the more I tried to organize my way out of it, the worse it felt. My life became a series of optimizations — and somehow, I felt less capable than ever.

What I’ve learned is that overwhelm usually isn’t a productivity problem. It’s a capacity problem. And trying to solve it with more effort often backfires.

Why Overwhelm Isn’t About How Much You’re Doing

Here’s the part that took me a while to understand: overwhelm doesn’t come from having too much to do. It comes from having too much in your head.

Unmade decisions. Open loops. Expectations you haven’t questioned. Emotional weight you haven’t named.

You can have a relatively manageable schedule and still feel completely underwater if your attention is scattered and your nervous system is tired. On the flip side, you can be genuinely busy and still feel calm if what you’re doing feels contained and intentional.

Overwhelm isn’t about volume. It’s about fragmentation.

The Subtle Way “Trying Harder” Makes It Worse

When overwhelm hits, our instinct is usually to push. Make a better list. Wake up earlier. Power through.

But effort layered on top of depletion doesn’t create clarity — it creates pressure.

I noticed that the more overwhelmed I felt, the harsher I became with myself. I treated rest like something I had to earn and slowness like a personal flaw. That mindset didn’t make me more productive. It just made everything feel heavier.

This is where ideas from Rest: Why You Get More Done When You Work Less quietly shifted something for me. The book reframes rest as a prerequisite for clarity, not a reward for getting everything done. When you’re exhausted, your brain can’t prioritize — so everything feels urgent and equally important.

Sometimes overwhelm is your system asking for relief, not refinement.

Stop Asking “What Should I Do?” and Ask “What Actually Matters?”

One of the biggest sources of overwhelm is treating everything like it deserves the same level of attention.

When everything is important, nothing feels contained.

I started experimenting with asking a different question: What actually matters today? Not this week. Not in theory. Today.

This is where Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less comes in — not as a rigid philosophy, but as a gentle permission slip. The idea that fewer things done with intention are more valuable than many things done reactively.

Overwhelm often eases not when you do more, but when you decide what doesn’t get done.

Why Overwhelm Is Often Emotional, Not Logistical

Another uncomfortable truth: sometimes overwhelm has very little to do with tasks.

It can be grief you haven’t processed. Anxiety you’ve been managing quietly. Pressure to be everything for everyone. Uncertainty about the future that doesn’t have a neat action step.

When that emotional weight goes unnamed, it attaches itself to your to-do list. Suddenly, answering emails feels impossible. Laundry feels monumental. Not because they’re hard — but because you’re already carrying too much.

Naming that matters. Overwhelm loses some of its power when you stop assuming it’s a failure of organization.

Small Containment Beats Big Overhauls

When everything feels like too much, the solution isn’t a full life reset. It’s containment.

Containment looks like:

• choosing one small area to tend to
• finishing something simple all the way through
• letting one thing be enough for now

Big overhauls require clarity. Overwhelm clouds clarity. Small, contained actions restore it.

This is also why ideas from Atomic Habits resonate here in a very grounded way. Not because habits will magically fix overwhelm, but because tiny, repeatable actions rebuild trust with yourself. They remind your system that progress doesn’t have to be dramatic to be real.

Why Doing Less Can Feel Scary (But Necessary)

Letting go of tasks, expectations, or timelines can feel irresponsible — especially if you’re capable and used to handling a lot.

But overwhelm is often a sign that you’ve been carrying more than is sustainable for longer than you realized.

Doing less isn’t quitting. It’s recalibrating.

When you reduce input — fewer commitments, fewer decisions, fewer tabs open — your mind starts to settle. Priorities re-emerge. The constant sense of urgency softens.

Overwhelm thrives in excess. Calm thrives in simplicity.

What Actually Helped When I Felt Maxed Out

Not everything at once. Just a few gentle shifts:

• deciding what could wait without consequences
• creating space for rest before clarity, not after
• allowing some things to be unfinished on purpose

Once I stopped treating overwhelm like an emergency and started treating it like information, it became easier to respond instead of react.

If You Take Only One Thing From This

If you feel overwhelmed, it doesn’t mean you’re incapable or behind. It usually means you’ve been asking yourself to hold too much — mentally, emotionally, or energetically — without enough support.

What helped me most wasn’t better productivity. It was better discernment, rest, and gentler structure:

• Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less — for learning how to decide what truly deserves your energy
• Rest: Why You Get More Done When You Work Less — for understanding why exhaustion makes everything feel urgent
• Atomic Habits — for rebuilding momentum through small, grounding actions

You don’t need to fix everything to feel better. You need to create enough space to breathe again.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Lisa, Slow Living Enthusiast

Hi, I’m Lisa. I write about slow living, nervous system care, and creating calm, intentional routines for everyday life. After spending 10 years living in Europe, I learned firsthand the art of savoring moments, embracing simplicity, and letting life unfold at a more human pace. My mission is to help you soften the edges of modern life and create space for a more intentional way of living.