Written by: Dr. Dunni Atalabi, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
Are you feeling drained, overwhelmed, or exhausted? Do you feel a torrent of fear, perhaps anger, and even some guilt? These are features of emotional overwhelm.
Emotional overwhelm refers to the depletion of our emotional energy and it affects people globally. Our emotions have varying vibrational energy levels. High vibration emotions include love, hope, and enlightenment. While lower vibration emotions include fear, shame, guilt, and grief, which take us through a period of pain and overwhelm leading to us feeling drained.
I found myself vibrating at low energy levels a few years ago when I received that dreaded, unexpected phone call in the early hours of the morning, informing me that my father had died. That loss and the grief that ensued was the main cause of emotional drain for me. I was in a state of overwhelm and felt exhausted all the time. This drove me to explore the best resources to enhance my well-being for myself and my children. On that journey, I built my emotional wellbeing toolkit using natural, scientific, and medical practices that I still use now in my many roles, to thrive through challenging times and ensure enhanced energy levels and emotional wellbeing.
To serve as a guide, here are 5 steps you can take to move from emotional overwhelm to emotional wellbeing:
1. Acknowledge that there is emotional overwhelm.
This is the first and most important step. The moment you admit that you are feeling exhausted, tired, or that your emotional bandwidth is not at the level you want it to be, you are moving away from the emotional overwhelm. Once this is identified just like making a diagnosis, there is clarity. As a doctor, I have noticed that even in situations where there is no active treatment for a condition, being aware of the diagnosis gives some relief to the patient because at that point they know what is happening. This clarity causes a shift
2. Breaking things.
This is when you start breaking free, breaking through and breaking up.
When you break free, you are able to release yourself from limiting beliefs, expectations of others, negative relationships, and past events that do not serve you. It does require a firm decision and can be painful initially but liberating.
Breaking through is a steady process where you exert pressure and persistence to go through a challenge. This is applied to ensure that you are making a mark in your space as you set yourself up for a safe area to grow. It is just like when a plant needs its roots to break through the soil to reach the most important nutrients vital for its growth.
Breaking up involves deliberate actions to break up tasks and time. In a 24 hr period, we have many events that take place and as mums, we have a massive to-do list. By breaking up the tasks into actionable steps, makes them more digestible and improves the clarity obtained in the previous step. By breaking up the time into chunks we support our body and mind to harmonize with the natural essence of life. This helps you have breaks to step back and recharge.
3. Ask for help.
Remember that when you ask for help, it is not a sign of weakness but a sign of strength. It is an indication that you have better self-awareness. This is a key component of emotional intelligence. The ability to strengthen this practice by consistent action builds your emotional resilience.
Asking for help can come in different ways. It can occur when you ask for more time, space, or a listening ear. It can also be when you delegate one or more of the broken down steps in step 2 above. It can also be when you ask for an intervention especially when professional help is needed and sought after. Stigma may stand in the way, especially when you're thinking about mental and emotional illness or conditions. Stigma is a big problem we face in this area of wellbeing. However, by going through the first 2 steps, you would feel empowered to break through the limitations preventing you from standing in your power and taking yourself from emotional overwhelm to emotional wellbeing. There is however one thing to take note of here, you need to be open to receiving help. Give yourself permission to receive the help that is offered to you knowing that not only are you worthy of the help but that you are being generous to the people offering you help by giving them an opportunity to feel good.
4. Make a plan.
It was well said by Benjamin Franklin, ‘If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.’ Everything worth doing requires having a plan of what you want to do, laid out. Whenever we make plans we need to remember the words of Stephen Covey, ‘The key is not to prioritize what is on your schedule but to schedule your priorities.’ The way to do this is to pick about 3 tasks that you have broken down from your to-do list in step 2, the tasks that you have not delegated that would make a difference in your overall goal, and schedule them. Once this is scheduled, you can then move on to the next step.
5. Take action.
There is a saying by Martin Luther King Jr. He says, if you can’t fly, then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk, then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.’ There are some days that you are getting things done, you are flying, and you are making big moves. There are however some days where you are unable to fly, run, walk or even crawl and at that point all you can do is wiggle. In such circumstances, keep wiggling.
Taking action is the antidote to any problem that can affect our well-being adversely.
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Dr. Dunni Atalabi, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Dr. ‘Dunni is a life & wellbeing coach, family doctor, international speaker, teacher, author, entrepreneur, and mum who empowers mums to eliminate the feeling of overwhelm and exhaustion by tapping into the super powers within while enhancing overall wellbeing so that they can live the life of calm and abundance they desire and deserve. This became her mission following the death of her father, her journey through grief, and her desire to promote wellbeing even when grieving.
She is passionate about mums not only because they deserve holistic wellbeing because of the myriad of roles they perform but because they are beacons showing their children and people around them how to enhance their overall wellbeing in mind, body, soul, and spirit.
She is proficient in using natural, scientific, and medical wellbeing concepts to explain in simple terms practical ways and strategies to avoid ill health and promote overall wellbeing. This is made available by provision of online courses, written content, books, coaching, and regular events such as challenges where practical self-care and wellbeing strategies and tactics are shared to enhance holistic wellbeing on a daily basis.
