For many individuals living with diabetes, the daily management can feel like an overwhelming burden, impacting not just your physical health but also your emotional well-being, and your daily life.
Diabetes doesn’t exist in a vacuum. It interacts with other aspects of life – work, family, social engagements, and other health conditions. This interplay can make diabetes management feel like a full-time job on top of one’s regular responsibilities.
There is a fine line between being overwhelmed and being hopeless.
There are two types of overwhelm. The first is too many demands from family, friends, work, relationships, personal obligations, and external circumstances.
If you add another thing to your plate, you’ll break.
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The other type is when you have a big project, which you may want to complete.
You need help managing this project. Total overwhelmed and despairing.
When it reaches a point where it impairs your decision-making and affects your ability to take action, there is a problem.
How can you protect yourself when feeling overwhelmed? Let’s examine a few tools you can use when you are overwhelmed.
Self Care
I have written about taking care of yourself with compassion. Allow your self-care regime to take over at the first signs of stress, overload, or feeling swamped.
This includes lots of sleep. Self-care will keep your coping skills sharp, and help you remain balanced and centered. (When I was much younger I would sleep when depressed or anxious). I didn’t know this was a way to cope at the time. It worked for me. Try a power nap.
Say No For Your Best Interest
Yes, it can be as easy as that. You may take on more than you have time to handle because you would rather not let someone down. It would help if you learned to say no.
Saying no is best for both parties. For you, it diminishes your stress, and you don’t become a resentful participant.
Breathe
When you are conscious of taking one breath then another, you are present, and not concerned with your overwhelming anxieties.
When you are overwhelmed, your stress hormones are activated. Your heart rate, blood pressure, respiration, and muscle tension increase.
If you are in a stressful state, try box breathing. It is very effective and used by the United States Navy and so many other organizations.
Slow Down- Pause and Be Intentional About The Result
When you are overwhelmed, it is natural to feel as if you are running out of time. Most projects take more time than we think.
Slow down – be smart, and deliberate about time. Make sure time is in your favor, and it supports you in what you are doing. Be devoted, and intentional, to one thing at a time. Focus on that.
Be Vigilant softly
The constant vigilance required can lead to diabetes burnout – a state of physical, emotional, and mental exhaustion related to diabetes care. Signs of burnout may include:
1. Feeling frustrated or angry about diabetes
2. Neglecting blood sugar monitoring
3. Skipping medication doses
4. Making poor food choices
5. Avoiding healthcare appointments
Get Help-How-Who-What
What can you offload to someone else?
When overwhelmed, ask for help. Don’t try to do it all yourself, and go it alone.
- Hire professional help
- Watch a how-to YouTube Video
- Hire a coach
- Take a class
- Talk to a friend
- Read a (how to book)
- Break projects into small pieces
- Talk with your diabetes educator
- Consider a mental health professional
- Talk to a doctor
- Take a few days for your mental health
Take a Social Media Break
In our digital age, it is so easy to become overloaded. Take a break regularly from all devices, screens, social media, and phone calls.
Being a slave to your devices is stressful. Disconnecting from the digital world can be a challenge. However, in time you will feel more relaxed.
Surrender
Lastly, what exactly is surrender? Surrender is giving the situation up completely. It could mean walking away, closing the door, detaching totally from the outcome, and for some turning everything over to God.
A great act of strength, and character is the willingness to let go of your need to control.
“I have been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had absolutely no other place to go.” — Abraham Lincoln
Some say feeling overwhelmed with life is normal. It’s not normal. Use the tools in this article to help overcome the feelings, and stress of overwhelm and focus on maintaining overall well-being and a good quality of life.
Don’t let overwhelm become hopelessness. There is a fine line between these emotions. Be aware.
HWB
