Overthinking, Overwhelm, and Burnout, Oh My! Part 1
08/08/2024
Key Takeaways
01. A majority of the nation reports experiencing overthinking, overwhelm, and burnout at some point in their lives.
02. Overthinking, or repetitive negative thinking, often leads to feelings of overwhelm and inability to keep up with the barrage of stresses that come from modern life.
03. Being constantly overstressed leads to burnout, a profound state of exhaustion that affects your emotional, physical, and mental well-being.
04. All phases of this cycle cause overbreathing, putting you in a perpetual state of fight or flight and high levels of anxiety, which is where an anxiety breathing necklace can come into play to help.
Which Category Do You Connect With Most? Each Can Cause Overbreathing and More.
Do you feel like you're always behind on what you “should” be doing? Whether that be in your career, social life, health, fitness routine, or dozens of other things that have made their way onto your plate. You’re not alone. Modern society created a vortex of constant interaction and information, leading to us trying to process too many issues and tasks all at once. The result? Overthinking leads to overwhelm and burnout– all of which lead to overbreathing and not feeling your best.
Listen, you’re not alone. Research suggests 73% of 25- to 35-year-olds chronically overthink, along with 52% of people ages 45 to 55. 74 percent of people admit that they have felt so stressed they have been overwhelmed or unable to cope. And 75% of workers report having experienced burnout in their jobs alone.
Why this upward trend in anxiety and stress? We live in a world of constant notifications, and we are perpetually plugged in. We’re supposed to give our all at our jobs (which offer a totally separate laundry list of concerns), eat the right foods, drink enough water, socialize, compete with others on social media, stay up to date on the rampant news (another laundry list of issues), get enough sunshine but not too much, exercise, get enough sleep… You get the picture. It’s exhausting, and it’s overwhelming!
Our brains struggle to process this type of overload, and no one has really given us a playbook on how to navigate this tumultuous new technological world. The good news is that there are methods we can develop to help better handle these situations and feel better.
Understanding Through The Cycle
Everyone is different, so you may find yourself in the overthinking, overwhelm, or burnout stage. Knowing a little bit about each one can help you identify where you are at so that you can get started on overcoming these unhealthy mental patterns. It will also help you to recognize when you may be slipping back into the pattern and starting the cycle again.
Stuck in a Toxic Cycle of Overthinking
Overthinking, sometimes called rumination, involves repetitive negative thinking. While reflecting on life’s circumstances is normal, overthinking occurs when you can't stop replaying negative thoughts about your past or future. Overthinking is not just about worrying excessively. It’s also about getting stuck in a loop of analysis, where you can't seem to move past your thoughts to take action. This mental paralysis can be incredibly draining and can prevent you from living in the moment and enjoying life.
At its core, overthinking is a hard-to-break pattern of thought. It often stems from a place of fear—fear of failure, fear of judgment, fear of the unknown. While it's normal to think things through and plan ahead, overthinking takes this to an extreme, where it starts to negatively impact one's mental and emotional well-being.
This can lead to feelings of overwhelm and, frequently, burnout.
Causes of Overthinking
Overthinking can stem from various factors, each contributing to a cycle of excessive worry and analysis. Knowing what the triggers are can help you better assess when you might be stuck in an unhealthy thought loop. Here are some common causes:
- Anxiety and Stress
- Perfectionism
- Fear of Failure
- Information Overload
- High Expectations
- Social Pressure
- Lack of Control
- Chronic Health Conditions
Do any of these sound familiar to you? Many more than one? If you find yourself dealing with any of the situations above, chances are you’ve been stuck in a cycle of overthinking. Maybe you’re doing it right now!
Recognizing the Signs of Overthinking
Overthinking can appear in various ways, impacting your daily life and mental health. These are some common signs.
- Constant Worrying: Persistent anxiety about past actions or future outcomes that disrupt daily life.
- Difficulty Making Decisions: Struggling to make even simple choices due to excessive consideration of all possible outcomes.
- Overanalyzing Situations: Ruminating over minor details and dissecting every aspect of conversations or events.
- Paralysis by Analysis: Feeling overwhelmed by the need to analyze every option, leading to inaction or delays.
- Sleep Disturbances: Difficulty falling asleep or experiencing restless nights due to racing thoughts and worries.
- Increased Stress Levels: Feeling constantly stressed or tense as a result of constant mental activity and worry.
- Excessive Self-Doubt: Frequently questioning your decisions, actions, or abilities, leading to a lack of self-confidence.
- Difficulty Letting Go: Struggling to move on from past events or mistakes, replaying them repeatedly in your mind.
- Social Withdrawal: Avoiding social interactions or isolating yourself due to preoccupation with your thoughts.
- Physical Symptoms: Experiencing headaches, muscle tension, or other stress-related physical symptoms as a result of mental strain.
- Depressive episodes: You find yourself feeling down after your mind spirals through an overthinking episode, and it’s difficult to remain positive and optimistic. Studies actually show that the more you ruminate and overthink, the more likely it is to become depressed.
Each of these situations will work to stress you out and, in turn, lead to overbreathing and the need for a tool like the breathing necklace. Overwhelm and burnout occur when these situations start looping repeatedly so that it's a never-ending cycle of negativity. So, if you can tick off any of these boxes, you might be suffering from overthinking, which can lead to the next stage of the anxiety rabbit hole.
The Mounting Stress of Overwhelm
Overwhelm is that feeling of being buried under a mountain of responsibilities, tasks, or emotions. Everything is just too much. It’s like trying to juggle too many balls at once, and no matter how hard you try, you can’t quite keep up with making sure they all stay in the air. When you’re overwhelmed, everything feels like it’s piling up, and it’s hard to see a clear path through the chaos.
At its definitive core, overwhelm occurs when you feel unable to manage the demands placed on you, leading to feelings of stress and being buried under responsibilities. It can stem from a variety of sources, including work pressures, personal challenges like becoming a new parent, or emotional strain. The sensation of being overwhelmed often leads to a sense of paralysis, where you might struggle to make decisions or take action.
Overwhelm can affect one's well-being and daily functioning, whether due to mounting responsibilities, emotional stress, or an inability to cope with life's demands.
Causes of Overwhelm
Feeling overwhelmed can often seem like a tidal wave of stress crashing down on you. To understand how to manage and overcome it, it's important to pinpoint what might be causing these feelings. In today’s day and age, a massively long list of things can lead to us feeling overwhelmed.
That being said, here’s a look at a few common triggers of overwhelm.
- Too Many Responsibilities
- High Expectations and Perfectionism
- Lack of Support
- Unresolved Emotional Issues
- Information Overload
- Life Transitions and Changes
- Neglecting Self-Care
Symptoms of Overwhelm
Identifying the signs of overwhelm can help you determine if you may be unconsciously dealing with this tumultuous experience. If you can say “I do that frequently” to any of these symptoms, you may be battling overwhelm.
What to look out for includes:
- Constant Fatigue: Feeling persistently tired or drained, even after a full night’s sleep.
- Difficulty Concentrating: Struggling to focus on tasks or becoming easily distracted.
- Irritability and Mood Swings: Snapping at others or experiencing frequent mood changes.
- Trouble Sleeping: Difficulty falling asleep, staying asleep, or experiencing restless sleep.
- Physical Symptoms: Headaches, muscle tension, or gastrointestinal issues related to stress.
- Overeating or Loss of Appetite: Changes in eating habits, such as eating excessively for comfort or losing your appetite.
- Increased Anxiety: Heightened worry and anxiety about daily tasks and responsibilities.
- Procrastination: Putting off tasks or feeling paralyzed by the number of things to do.
- Social Withdrawal: Avoiding social interactions or isolating yourself from friends and family.
- Difficulty Making Decisions: Struggling to make even small decisions or feeling indecisive.
Another factor of these symptoms and a consequence of being overwhelmed is overbreathing. We’ll get into this more deeply in just a minute, and why a breathing necklace can help. Once these settle in and start to take hold, it could lead you straight down the path to burnout.
The Burnout Battle
Burnout is a state of overwhelming exhaustion. This isn't just about feeling stressed or tired—it's a profound state of being worn out that affects your emotional, physical, and mental well-being. It can creep up slowly, often making it hard to recognize until it's deeply entrenched.
Burnout usually results from prolonged stress and can impact various aspects of your life, including your work, relationships, and general happiness. Unlike occasional stress or tiredness, burnout involves a chronic sense of being drained and emotionally depleted, leading to feelings of detachment and reduced accomplishment. While job burnout is what we’re most familiar with, this state of being can occur from any sort of life trigger.
A new mother who has just had a baby is a perfect example. She's constantly thinking about her newborn, what they need, and if she’s doing everything right. The demands of caring for her baby—feeding, changing, and sleepless nights—can become overwhelming. The lack of rest, combined with the emotional and physical demands of parenting, can lead to burnout, where the mother feels emotionally drained, disconnected from her baby, and overwhelmed by the constant responsibilities.
And that’s just one example! This can impact any facet of our lives depending on what we are dealing with at the time.
Causes of Burnout
Like overthinking and overwhelm, there are many areas in life that can lead to burnout. Here are a few things that can cause you to run out of steam.
- Excessive Workload
- Lack of Control
- Inadequate Support
- Poor Work-Life Balance
- High Stress Levels
- Lack of Recognition
- Monotonous or Unchallenging Tasks
- Unhealthy Environment
- Personal Life Stressors
Understanding these causes can help identify areas that may need attention and proactive measures to prevent or address burnout effectively, like using a breathing necklace to calm down the nervous system and get a reset.
Symptoms of Burnout
Many of the symptoms of burnout coincide with symptoms of overthinking and overwhelm, which makes sense as it’s a progression! With that in mind, here are things to look out for to ensure you’re not mired down.
- Chronic Fatigue: Persistent exhaustion and a lack of energy, even after rest, that doesn’t improve with sleep.
- Emotional Exhaustion: Feeling emotionally drained, overwhelmed, or unable to handle everyday stresses, leading to apathy or detachment.
- Increased Cynicism: Developing a negative or cynical attitude towards work, colleagues, or life, with a loss of motivation and enthusiasm.
- Reduced Performance: A noticeable decline in productivity or efficiency, with tasks becoming overwhelming or seemingly impossible.
- Sleep Disturbances: Difficulty falling asleep, staying asleep, or experiencing restless sleep due to stress and anxiety.
- Physical Symptoms: Manifesting as headaches, gastrointestinal issues, or frequent illness, it is often linked to chronic stress, which weakens the immune system.
- Social Withdrawal: Avoiding social interactions and feeling disconnected from friends or family due to feeling overwhelmed and emotionally drained.
- Increased Irritability: Noticeable mood changes, including becoming easily irritated, frustrated, or angry.
- Feelings of Ineffectiveness: Perceptions of making no meaningful impact or feelings of inadequacy and low self-worth.
- Lack of Motivation: Significant decrease in enthusiasm or interest in tasks that previously brought joy, leading to procrastination and avoidance.
Overbreathing: A Major Systemic Problem of This Cycle
When you’re in the throes of overthinking, feeling overwhelmed, or just plain burnt out, your body’s natural stress response often triggers rapid, shallow breathing. This reaction is rooted in the fight-or-flight response, a physiological mechanism designed to help you deal with immediate threats. When faced with stress, your brain signals your adrenal glands to release stress hormones such as adrenaline and cortisol. These hormones prepare your body to either fight the threat or flee from it, which includes ramping up your heart rate and increasing your breathing rate.
However, in response to emotional stress rather than physical danger, this rapid breathing becomes a problem. It keeps you in this perpetual state of fight-or-flight. This arrested state can lead to a litany of health issues. The body will continuously produce stress hormones, which can lead to chronic health conditions such as anxiety, depression, fatigue, and trouble sleeping. You may also experience physical symptoms like increased heart rate, high blood pressure, and digestive problems. Being stuck in this mode can take an emotional toll, understandably, and lead to feelings of numbness or irritability.
At root, you don’t feel like yourself and won’t be able to enjoy life as you’re supposed to.
Changing the Game
If you’ve felt any of these emotions before, you know just how exhausting they can be. And with the way the world is currently, most of us have gone through the whole series. Figuring out how to navigate these feelings and give our brains a welcome relief as well as tools to manage any stressful situation that comes our way is key to supporting your mental and physical wellness.
Those who are suffering often develop vices such as smoking, vaping, digital addictions, doomscrolling, food cravings, and more to help ease the burden. Predominantly, these coping mechanisms may help at the moment but can actually lead to even more anxiety or stress overall. Have you picked up an unhealthy habit or two to try and manage those negative feelings?
That’s why it’s so important to develop healthy habits to overcome these negative thought loops. There’s good news! There are a ton of things you can do to help break this toxic cycle! One of the best things you can do to crush these thought patterns is to use a breathing necklace to bring yourself back to the here and now.
Check out part two of our series for a list of strategies for starting to breathe easier and transitioning into a calmer mindset, including how a breathing necklace can help!
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