Stress Management Counseling

Do You Feel Stressed, Depleted And Overwhelmed By Life?

Instead of feeling on top of life, do you feel as though life is on top of you? Do you feel weighed down by too much work, responsibility, anxiety and sadness—too much everything?

picture of woman cafe unfocused staring thinkingIt may feel like you always have something urgent to do but no time to do it. Even during rare moments of calm, you might fixate on worries about the future. No matter how much you scramble to meet the demands of your relationships, finances, career, family members and health, you may fear that you just can’t give or do enough.

Perhaps you feel helpless to make a change or hopeless that your life can be changed. Faced with overwhelming stress, you might alternate between moving at top speed and collapsing. Even as pressure intensifies, you may not feel able to get anything done. You may retreat from life and shut down by using substances, binge-watching TV, gaming, binge eating or some other method of zoning out. And though that offers temporary relief, the cycle of stress and overwhelm inevitably begins again.

You may also find yourself dealing with intense emotions and outbursts. When stress hits its peak, you may feel irritable, aggressive and desperate, unable to manage your reactions and decisions. Maybe you feel that you’ve lost control of your life—that you’ve lost your connection to your authentic self or have never had the luxury of even connecting with your grounded self.

Do you wish you could learn how to relieve stress and navigate challenges with greater ease? Are you longing to reconnect with your purpose and live a life that truly feels like your own?

Most People Feel Overwhelmed At Some Point In Their Lives

picture of Midlife man bu brut carniollusIf you feel that you can’t keep up with life, you are not alone. A recent survey found that 16 percent of women and 13 percent of men feel chronically overwhelmed. But, while emotions like worry and sadness are normal parts of the human experience, overwhelm doesn’t have to be.

Chronic overwhelm increases the intensity of normal stressors and transforms them into toxic stress, which has harmful effects on the body, relationships and functionality. It’s caused by a variety of factors, largely based in lifestyle and culture or trauma.

Overwhelm And Modern Life

Biologically, we are social creatures. We are meant to balance our time between work, play and human connection. But, many people find their time consumed by work, whether that looks like money-making work, housework, incessant errands, child-rearing or other obligations.

Such tasks can easily become too much to handle alone. Yet, many people try to balance it all on their own, often because there are few other options. When everyone is busy, few have the resources to build and sustain community. As a result, many feel isolated and overwhelmed by life.

On and off social media, many people also frequently compare themselves to others, only to feel inadequate—as though they need to somehow do and be more. That inner push can easily escalate into overwhelm.

The internet has also made the news more accessible than ever, leading to a constant bombardment of distressing stories and images. In addition to personal stress, more and more people are feeling overwhelmed by the state of the world.

Overwhelm And Trauma

Childhood trauma can have a significant impact on a person’s capacity to function capably and confidently as an adult. For example, if a child’s parents are unable function well, their child may be forced to shoulder the burden of adult responsibilities. As a result, when this child grows into an adult, they might feel more and more burdened and overwhelmed by each new responsibility.

Other childhood traumas can cause paranoia and erode trust in others, the government and the world in general. This increases toxic stress, further intensifying reactions to stressors. Further, many adults who survived childhood trauma never learned what to do when stressed, not to mention how to successfully manage conflict, budget or otherwise navigate the responsibilities and relationships of adulthood.

Trauma, grief and loss, depression, anxiety and life stressors all diminish an individual’s ability to cope with challenges. But, no matter what you’ve experienced, and no matter what you’re struggling with today, you don’t have to continue feeling so drained, stuck and overwhelmed.

By working with a therapist and life coach who takes a spiritual, holistic approach to healing, you can tap into your innate resilience and develop the skills you need to change your life.

With Overwhelm And Stress Management Counseling, You Can Find Lasting Relief

You don’t have to do it all on your own. We understand how helpless you might feel right now, but we also believe that you are wiser and stronger than you know. With compassionate and practical support, you can reduce overwhelm, develop confidence and create a life that nourishes your authentic self.

While your life may be objectively too full, more often than not, your relationship to your responsibilities is more overwhelming than the responsibilities themselves. As a life coach and spiritual counselor, we can help you learn to not only manage stress on a practical level, but also change your relationship to life’s stressors and release overwhelm from the inside out.

We offer mindfulness-based therapy, incorporating meditative practices that have been shown to decrease stress, boost resilience and improve overall well-being. You can ground into the present moment so that big emotions and challenges don’t feel so overwhelming. Through healing trauma and practicing mindfulness and self-care, you can equip yourself to cope with stress whenever it arises.

picture of happy womanDepending on your needs, we can also provide coaching in areas such as communication, relationships, work and with other arenas you might need help navigating. As you learn how to manage stress and overwhelm, We can help you identify habits and obligations that are no longer serving you. Then, you can make thoughtful choices about where to cut back and when to say “no.” When you have less “life”—less work, less pressure, less to do—you can have more energy for vibrant living so that you can thrive rather than just survive.

During stress management counseling, we might discover that your feelings of overwhelm are rooted in trauma. It may be that there’s a part of you that has felt burdened and worn down for a long time. But, there’s another part of you that is powerful and resilient. Throughout our work together, you can heal deep, lingering pain so that it no longer shapes your perceptions or reactions. You can tap into your innate strength and gain a new sense of agency over your present.

From both personal and professional experience, We know that you can move through life with a more forgiving, loving, empowering view of who you are. You can learn how to draw from the Source of your grounded, wise Self. You can discover that you already have all the resources you need to create a meaningful, balanced life.

You may have questions or concerns about overwhelm and stress therapy…

Life is overwhelming as it is. Therapy is just one more thing to do.

You’re right, therapy and coaching is another thing to add to the list. However, it’s also an opportunity to carefully examine, unpack and release some of those thousand other “to-do”s. How many of the things you do actually feed you and build your internal resources? How many only deplete you?

Therapeutic care is food for the Spirit and an act of Self-Care that has long-lasting results. You can build internal resources and effective tools for navigating life’s challenges, as well as the insight and self-assurance needed to let go of the “to do”s draining you. Your peace is worth the time and financial investment.

I’m already feeling overwhelmed by my emotions. If I talk about them, I’ll fall apart.

Part of our jobs as a holistic counselors and wellness facilitators is to track your emotional states, taking care that we don’t go too deep too fast. We generally start our work together with really practical skill building so that you feel equipped to manage stressors as they arise. We only go to the challenging places when you feel safe, supported and ready.

Everybody gets overwhelmed. Why do I need therapy?

While many people have occasional moments of overwhelm, especially in times of crisis, chronic overwhelm is not something you just have to cope with. How much better and more enjoyable would your life be if you didn’t feel so overwhelmed? Holistic Counseling and Coaching can help you to navigate your life with greater ease. You are worth it.

Lighten Your Burden

If you are suffering from overwhelm and excessive symptoms of stress, you are invited to contact us to schedule a free phone consultation to find out how stress management counseling can help you.

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