What Nature Can Teach Us About ....Overwhelm

We do not need enormous, intractable and fantastically complex issues like the climate emergency, geopolitical unrest and unprecedented inequality to make us feel overwhelmed... but they sure do help.

But overwhelm is most certainly not about the size or scale of tasks to be done, problems to solve or planets to fix. We can (and will, I assure you) feel that horrid engulfing, gathering, quickening, drowning feeling of overwhelm at any time.

I remember a particular morning, a few years ago now — and long before I learned of the systemic, entangled and heartbreaking predicaments we all face — when all I had to do that day was clean the kitchen, clean myself, water a patch of ferns and see one client** who I knew well and it all felt like so, so, so much.

Too much.

I stood in the middle of the kitchen, casting around for some type of vessel to take water to the ferns, and when I seemed to think I was only seeing tiny things like egg cups or thimbles (there was a watering can in the corner that I was blind to in my state, and I probably imagined the thimbles...do people even have thimbles these days?) I screamed loudly into a tea towel.

A grown woman. An un-showered, grown woman in a not-clean kitchen with dry ferns, screaming into a tea towel.

**I was seeing a client in my role as—to remind you in all its ironic splendour—a coach and practitioner for mental health and help with anxiety! Whatever they say, and however polished and serene their persona, I'm quite certain that your coach, therapist, counsellor, helper person ...and your head teacher, grandmother, priest, CEO at your workplace, prime minister, etc. have all had their personal equivalent of a screaming-into-a-teatowel moment, and will have many, many more. We have to be honest about this. I shared it with my client that day...I was feeling better by then of course because our minds settle on their own (here's a podcast episode which talks about this self-settling awesomeness)

Screaming, crying, sweating, running around, frantic cleaning—whatever it is—can be a way of letting energy move through us. You might have heard emotions described as "e-motion," as in"energy in motion." These physical expressions are ways our bodies release and process the energy that emotions generate.

Of course, these expressions are shunned in a society that prizes the illusion of composure and control to keep its program of relentless consumption and exploitation running smoothly, unruffled by the disruptive emotions of its hostages. In a perfect world I would be able to scream in the street, without the need for a muffling tea towel. Huh.

Ok, where were we before the screaming? Overwhelm. Overwhelm can be seen as a ton of speedy, hot, frenetic thought. It can come from nowhere quite suddenly and sweep us up into its tsunami.

It might be helpful for you to see that overwhelm often thrives in narrow perspectives. We feel it's all on us, or there's too much to overcome. We don't see large networks of help, the emergence of unknown outcomes, or the breadth of other possibilities. I mean it - we literally don't see them at all**. We go kinda 'blind', like me being unable to see the watering can in the kitchen that I mentioned earlier

**Science says this is a real thing. When we're overwhelmed, our brain's processing capacity is exceeded and leads to 'cognitive overload'. This means our attention, memory, vision and hearing are impaired. Our focus is narrowed to immediate threats, further reducing our ability to perceive any other information which might be useful.
This is supported by cognitive psychology and neuroscience research if you like that kinda thing: start by looking up Sweller, J., Ayres, P., & Kalyuga, S. (2011). Cognitive Load Theory.

Nature says: let mould spores be your teacher

Mould flourishes in dark, confined spaces, much like overwhelm often thrives in narrow perspectives.
Mould spores, tiny and insidious, thrive in the damp corners of an unventilated place. They spread and multiply, feeding off the lack of light and fresh air.

This is like overwhelm and anxiety for us — growing in the shadows of a narrow viewpoint, feeding off our limited perspective.

Now imagine opening a window in that mouldy room. Fresh air rushes in, — whooooooooosh — sunlight streams through, and the mould begins to wither (some bits might need a good scrub). This works for us, too. Expanding our perspective allows the light of interconnectedness, possibility and emergence to illuminate our thoughts. Different choices pop up that we (literally) could not see before.

This is not 'positive thinking' in different pyjamas

This does not mean the grave challenges we face have gone away, or that we can or should positive-think our way over them. It's more about the broadening of our perspective helping us see little light shards amidst the challenges, rather than just feeling crushed by the darkness.

Opening a window transforms a mouldy room. Opening a window in your mind might help clear out the spores of overwhelm.

This might mean doing something completely unrelated to the things that seem to be overwhelming you. A go-to for me is going outside in bare feet and just standing there with no aim for anything else. Or it might mean doing a tiny part of a thing you need to do, so tiny it seems insignificant or pointless but can actually move you on. Again, for me, I start writing a couple of lines from the middle, or end, of an article or report or crunchy email or whatever thing I am putting off.

But most of the time, overwhelm just takes hold and that's that

Although it's nice talking about mould and stuff (right? You having fun?), all this is easier to read then to do. Sometimes, overwhelm just takes hold and while you might remember reading this piece, you may be like: "open a window in my mind, what the hell did that mean, fresh air of emergence, what the fuck, clear the overwhelm spores, arghhhh, I can't remember but I already have too much to do as it is before opening mind windows and cleaning mould or whatever Siobhán said arghhh"

That's ok. It will pass. While the feeling of overwhelm can be horrid, it's safe. You are ok. You do not need to fix this feeling. But you definitely do not have to like that this is happening. You don't have to welcome overwhelm, accept it, allow it, embrace it or whatever thing we are supposed to be doing with our feelings these days is.

We are the special ones my dear

It's my tightly-held belief** that those of us who experience overwhelm —along with anxiety, worry, dread, panic and most of the crunchy feelings — do so because we just give way more fucks about the world. We care more so we think more. We think about outcomes, we think about people affected by our choices, we think about the planet. We are literally more thought-full. We think too much, sometimes, and that shows up as overwhelm or something else. But it's ok.

**Although I would often be suspicious of what perspectives we might he unwilling to consider when we have 'tightly-held beliefs', I'm keeping this one. I'm allowed to have tightly-held beliefs, I've decided, especially when they don't lead to (that I know of) genocide or the erasure of cultures, peoples, mountains and so forth, like the tightly held beliefs of our 'leaders' have a tendency of doing.

So, thank you, overwhelmed one, for caring so much and giving a shit when these capacities have been lost, pummelled out, or eroded in many of our fellow humans. Your sensitivity and depth may feel like a burden sometimes, but they are signs of a profound engagement and connection with this world.
This deep connection is what allows you to see beyond the surface, to empathise deeply, and to act with genuine care. In a world that has lost its shit, your capacity for feeling and caring is a rare and invaluable gift. Really.

Goodness me, the bit about mould spores seems a long time ago now doesn't it?