Are You Feeling Overwhelmed? These 5 Principles Can Help. 

You're feeling overwhelmed. Let's recap for a moment. How did you get there?

You might be carrying a lot of family responsibility or work pressure n your shoulders. Perhaps a lot of people rely on you and you really don't want to let them down.

Maybe attempting to meet all the demands and expectations placed on you takes up all of your time, leaving you drained and stressed on a regular basis.

You might wonder if there is a way out of this.

Perhaps you are close to giving up hope that you can have the life you want to have, a life where you can continue to deliver in your work while taking good care of yourself and your loved ones.

If you're responding to overwhelm like many other people, you might have tried changes on the behavioral level (such as time management). You also may have tried to shift your mindset, for instance by being more positive about the situation.

Perhaps you have sought out advice and support from people around you or from experts (such as life coaches or therapists).

Maybe you have tried to educate yourself on the issues you’re facing---or you might have simply decided that you need to ignore what you're feeling and soldier through.

It's because these efforts began at the periphery of change, not at the center.

And the center of any change is you.

By getting clearer on who you really are and what you want and need, change can happen relatively effortlessly, from the inside out.

With increased clarity about yourself, it becomes easier to say no to things that are not on course for you. This, in turn, frees up time and energy to focus on what you most care about.

By learning, living and integrating the following 5 principles, you can gradually stop feeling overwhelmed.

3. Commitment to change
Throughout most of humanity’s existence, change signified danger. As a result, we still have a natural preference to maintain an unpalatable status quo----something that mere motivation often can’t overcome. That’s why deep change generally requires true commitment.

4. A healthy relationship with fear
Change often brings up fear. Because our culture sees fear as an enemy, it creates a dysfunctional relationship with this generally helpful mechanism. Without a healthy relationship with fear, the change process can feel like you’re fighting windmills.

5. Support network
Humans are social creatures and want to belong. Because this sense of belonging can feel threatened when you’re in a change process, it's really hard to go through this all by yourself. A support network is a valuable asset in this process.