Feeling overwhelmed
That phrase, feeling overwhelmed, has been a phrase that I have heard so much this week that I couldn’t help using it again, as the title.
I felt overwhelmed this past month many times for many different reasons.
o·ver·whelm, ōvərˈ(h)welm/
verb
past tense: overwhelmed; past participle: overwhelmed
- bury or drown beneath a huge mass.
“the water flowed through to overwhelm the whole dam and the village beneath”
synonyms: swamp, submerge, engulf, bury, deluge, flood, inundate “advancing sand dunes could overwhelm the village”
- defeat completely.
“his teams overwhelmed their opponents”
synonyms: defeat (utterly/heavily), trounce, rout, beat (hollow), conquer, vanquish, be victorious over, triumph over, worst, overcome, overthrow, crush; More
- give too much of a thing to (someone); inundate.
“they were overwhelmed by farewell messages”
Most times that I’ve heard “overwhelmed” this week, I’ve heard the first definition. Feeling buried by work, by too many decisions, by too much traffic, by too much building in Denver, or even just too many restaurants to choose from. It hasn’t been positive.
After reading the entire definition the part about “overwhelmed their opponents” sparked my brain into thinking that phrase can be a positive phrase. Yes, I try to turn everything into a positive, maybe it’s ridiculous but someone has to do it.
A friend said that after being so frustrated in traffic a few days in a row she decided to take the bus into work. She read, and she watched the city around her, the people, the buildings, the other drivers yelling at each other. She didn’t feel overwhelmed by the time she walked into work.
Another friend who is new to our city was sharing that her commute to work a year ago was 20 minutes and is now 30 minutes so she started taking the train from downtown to DTC, not every day, but many days. She said she doesn’t feel as frustrated or overwhelmed when she arrives at work.
What is our city turning into? Are we growing so fast we are letting it overwhelm us? How do we stop the overwhelming feelings each day, or at least turn them into a positive feeling once in a while, instead of it being negative thought or feeling?
When I have clients who are overwhelmed by too many houses to look at, I try to narrow it down for them, weed out the ones that don’t have 80% of what they have told me they want. When they aren’t sure what neighborhood they want to live in, I try to find the neighborhood that meets most of the criteria that they think they want and focus in on what they are expressing the most interest in.
As I looked back at my month, I realized I cut out things so I wasn’t as overwhelmed, just like I would do for my clients. I slowed a few things down, I left early so I wasn’t rushed, I said no, when I needed to.
Since I was feeling overwhelmed in September I wanted to check in with you to see how you are feeling.
