Is it just me, or does everyone feel like they’re losing control sometimes? You know that feeling like your emotions are spiraling out of control, leaving you breathless and uncentered?” This is a common experience, often referred to as emotional overwhelm.
Emotional overwhelm often occurs when the intensity of your emotions surpasses your emotional overload or when the level of emotions experienced is beyond an individual’s capacity, potentially culminating in anxiety, stress or helplessness. This state can be evoked by one’s busy schedule, stress at the workplace, family or individual issues and perceptions of life incidents. A research done by Journal of Anxiety Disorders showed that people who frequently experience emotional overwhelm are more likely to develop anxiety disorders and depression.
Knowing these feelings and knowing how to handle these feelings or control them is very vital.
Grounding Techniques for Managing Anxiety Attacks
Cues for grounding are considered as useful tactics that may help to stop an anxiety attack, as they assist someone in returning to reality and stabilize their emotions. Probably the best known of all the grounding techniques is the Five Senses Exercise. This technique requires you to use all your five senses to redirect your focus from the anxiety back to the physical environment.
For example, during an anxiety attack, try:
- Naming five things you can see: Such as a book on a shelf, a tree outside, and so on.
- Identifying four things you can touch: The things that you can touch around you, such as the fabric of our dress, the feel of a glass etc.
- Recognizing three things you can hear: Voices of birds, sound of a fan and the like.
- Identifying two things you can smell: The smell of the coffee, a candle, for example.
- Focusing on one thing you can taste: A mint, the aftertaste of a meal etc.
These are such simple everyday actions that attempt to break the continuous loop of anxiety and allow you to gain back some measure of normalcy. It has been found that simple techniques like the Five Senses Exercise can help to decrease the severity of anxiety symptoms and can therefore be considered as a way of managing the experience of emotional overwhelm in moments of crisis.
Mindfulness Exercises for Calming an Overactive Mind
Mindfulness exercises can help reduce the intensity of emotions when you’re feeling emotional overload. Meditation helps block out those intrusive thoughts and remain conscious of the present moment. Mainly, mindfulness embraces the present moment and may help to control an otherwise nomadic mind that is too easily preoccupied with past and future concerns. Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn, who pioneered mindfulness through Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), proved that focusing on the feelings as a result of being mindful can reduce their intensity by improving the ability to regulate emotions.
When it comes to mindfulness, one of the approaches is Body Scan Meditation in which the subject mentally goes through all the parts of the body focusing on feeling of tension or warmth in certain areas without trying to give it a positive or negative spin. It provides you with this acceptance that helps you let go of stress and be present.
Another effective method is Mindful Breathing, which aims at concentrating only on the breath, its rhythm and depth, and the feeling of the air passing in and out through the nostrils. This exercise helps calm an overstimulated brain and is beneficial for managing emotional overwhelm.
Research has shown that mindfulness can significantly reduce anxiety and depression, providing an excellent tool for those who feel emotional overload.
Breathing Techniques for Reducing Stress and Overwhelm
Deep breathing exercises are a proven way to alleviate emotional overwhelm, as they signal the body to relax. Taking deep breaths in particular can cause muscles in the body to relax and bring minimal anxiety.
One of the techniques that can be used is the Box Breathing, where one inhales for 4 counts, then holds the breath for four counts after that one exhales for four counts, and lastly, one pauses for an additional four counts before starting the cycle again. This structured breathing pattern can slow down one’s heartbeat as well as bring order where there is chaos.
Another technique is the 4-7-8 Breathing method. You breathe in through your nose for a count of four, hold for seven seconds, then breathe out through your mouth for eight seconds. This technique is quite beneficial in alleviating stress and anxieties and is most effective when used prior to sleep at night. This shows that other matching breathing exercises when done routinely can reduce cortisol levels, the stress hormone making it appropriate for handling emotional overload.
Self-Soothing Strategies for Emotional Regulation
Developing healthy ways of providing oneself comfort can act as a coping mechanism when one is overwhelmed by intense feelings. These techniques assist you in managing your emotions, helping you to be in charge and calm most of the time.
A basic yet effective self-comforting strategy is called Gentle Touch, for instance, embracing oneself or patting one’s chest. This kind of touch may help trigger the release of oxytocin which helps promote security and warmth.
Another self-comforting technique is Listening to Calming Music. For example, listening to a favorite relaxing song can change a mood and provide emotional support when needed. Furthermore, aromatherapy, that is, the action of smelling definite scents such as lavender or chamomile has been shown to be able to change your mood significantly. These scents stimulate the limbic area of the brain which has a link with emotion and is useful in soothing the emotions.
Understanding Triggers: Emotional triggers are thus those events or circumstances that may unexpectedly bring out certain feelings within us.. Being aware of your emotional triggers is key to avoiding emotional overload. It is however, important to note that any of these triggers could be managed before they get out of hand.
Real-Life Strategies:
- Emotion Journal: Make a note of all emotions that you feel and what invokes them. For instance, if you realize you get stressed after a particular discussion, then make that notation. It thus aids in identifying the trends and provides a better perspective on what triggers you.
- Self-Awareness: Notice the feelings you have while having them. Whenever you experience some sort of distress, try to consider what just happened. Using mindfulness you can timely intervene before these moments grow into major incidents.
- Setting Boundaries: If there are people or circumstances that make you upset often, it is okay to say no to them. Whether it is avoiding interactions with a coworker with whom one cannot get along or turning down additional work, boundaries are key to well-being.This is a form of emotional support for yourself, prioritizing your mental health.
Conclusion
Putting It All Together:
When it comes to emotions, there is no list of rules to follow and things to avoid, it is about personal discovery. Begin with the least demanding task, such as committing to do a breathing exercise each day. Subsequently, introduce other tools like using a journal or setting limits to the circumstances causing stress. The goal is to build a toolbox of techniques that provide emotional support even in chaotic situations.
