Switching off to power up

Creating a space for ourselves.

As summer kicks into full swing, our calendars can start filling up.

Amidst filling our spare time, we need to create space for ourselves.

Creating space can help us deal with feeling emotionally overwhelmed and the ebbs and flows of life.

We can design what our time to ourselves looks like at home and at work.

Over time, this will improve our ability to switch off each day, or make the most of our holidays.

We will feel refreshed when we need it the most.

Less refreshed

Have you ever felt like you haven’t slept properly?

Like your holiday didn’t feel as relaxing as you’d hoped?

A 2021 study by CIPHR found 79% of British adults are feeling stressed at least once a month.

49% admitted to feeling stressed five or more days each month, and 30% cited feeling stressed for 10 or more days a month.

Stress has become a near daily feature of our lives.

Workplaces can contribute to our levels of positive and negative stress, and there are ways we can support ourselves through a rough patch.

Whatever environment we’re in, we can build our self-awareness to manage emotional overwhelm.

What is emotional overwhelm?

Feeling emotionally overwhelmed is a natural for children as they learn and experience the world for the first time.

It is also a natural occurrence for adults, too.

GoodTherapy describes this feeling as a state of being overrun by intense emotion that is difficult to manage.

It can affect your ability to think and act rationally and could prevent you from performing daily tasks.

Traumatic life experiences, personal issues, work issues or being affected by stress can affect our emotional regulation.

This is also linked to anxiety, depression, post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, ADHD, autism, emotional personality disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).

This can look like:

  • Not feeling in control of your emotions.
  • Experiencing emotions that don’t match the present moment such as crying more or feeling overwhelmed with rage.
  • You experience emotions that are not typical for you such as anxiety, panic, fear, fatigue etc.
  • Feeling mentally sluggish or having difficulty remembering things, like you have brain fog.
  • Physical and emotional withdrawal.
  • Trouble focusing and completing simple or regular tasks.
  • Your emotions colour your perception of the world – e.g., bereavement, depression.

If you’ve ever felt like you can’t quite fully switch off after work, or fully relax on a holiday, then you could be experiencing emotional overwhelm.

How to manage it

Emotional overwhelm can also cause you to contain or feel like you have to ‘bottle up’ your emotions in order to push through.

The good news is there are healthy ways you can decompress and express these feelings to relieve feelings of overwhelm.

Oxford CBT recommends:

  • Write things down to clear your head of thoughts and emotions. It helps to do this in an unstructured way. Having a written stream of your conscious thoughts allows you to express yourself freely and getting those thoughts out of your head will be a relief.
  • Say no. If you are feeling overwhelmed, it may be that you are feeling under pressure. This may be from work and colleagues, or it might be from friends and family. If there is something you feel under pressure to do, if you can say ‘no’, then do. Replace it with something that you enjoy doing.
  • Be kind to yourself. Remember that feeling overwhelmed is OK. It also helps to remember that feeling overwhelmed doesn’t have to last. Give yourself some grace – if you don’t get to the hoovering done, or the car washed, it doesn’t matter. Your mental health should be a top priority.
  • Approach things by doing one thing at a time. Multi-tasking can confuse us, overwhelm us and reduce our productivity by as much as 40%. Try to focus on one thing at a time in priority order where necessary.
  • Breathe. If you’re feeling overwhelmed or anxious, a quick way to begin to alleviate those feelings is by doing breathing exercises. If the thing that’s overwhelming, you is in front of you then take a step away from it to create some separation between you and whatever it is. Deep breathing exercises are a great way to promote relaxation and lower your stress response.

Creating space

Everyone’s approach to physically and emotionally decompressing will be different.

Tips for creating a peaceful indoor space

Given that 90% of an average adult’s time is spent indoors, our internal environment is worth investing in, even in small ways.

  • Create a space at home to relax, that you don’t work or attend to any to-dos. This could be a separate room, or as small as a certain seat on the sofa.
  • Natural light can help boost levels of serotonin, a mood enhancer.
  • Wherever you make your space, ensure it is not messy and you are not cramped or restricted.
  • Consider adding plants, colour, shapes and natural elements and art pieces.

Tips for peaceful outdoor spaces

When we can, getting outside can be incredibly restorative and do wonders for our ability to unplug physically and mentally.

  • Seek green spaces – spending time in gardens, parks and spaces with flora can reduce stress, improve concentration and productivity and better air quality. A University of Delaware study found that taking time out can, overall, can help problems be solved more effectively and reduce crime.
  • Spend time in blue spaces – whether it’s on holiday, a day trip, a lunchbreak walk, or spending time near or in man-made or natural bodies of water. This can include walking, jogging, swimming, diving, sailing, canoeing, skiing, fishing, or simply sitting and soaking in the scenery. These can reduce stress, blood pressure, soothe our nervous system, improve sleep and memory, a UK charity Sea Sanctuary has found.
  • Get moving, even gently – start small, with a friend or loved one, by getting moving for just 20 or 30 minutes. Then you can find a rhythm, activity or place that works for you.

Resources

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