Process Overwhelm

Understanding:

You're experiencing overwhelm from multiple competing demands - work, home, and personal tasks - with thoughts like 'everything feels impossible' creating a sense of paralysis that makes it harder to tackle any individual item.

Cognitive Strategies:

• •Challenge the 'everything is impossible' thought: Break this down - which specific tasks are actually urgent vs. which can wait?
• •Question the evidence for 'I can't cope': What similar challenging periods have you successfully navigated before?
• •Separate the solvable from the uncontrollable: What aspects of this situation can you actually influence today?

Behavioral Strategies:

• •Identify the one smallest first step: Pick just one 15-minute task from any category and complete it
• •Use simple prioritization: Write down everything, then mark just 3 items as 'must do this week'
• •Schedule brief breaks between tasks to prevent overwhelm from building up throughout the day

Motivational Insight:

Overwhelm often comes from trying to hold too much in your mind at once. When you break it down into individual, manageable pieces, you remember that you are more capable than your overwhelmed brain believes.