Why the number of tasks isn't the problem
Everyone feels overwhelmed now and then in life. But when the overwhelm takes over, it can feel like everything is too much — you can no longer see the wood for the trees. Overwhelm then leads to stress and tension, and calming down becomes hard once thoughts start circling. Often a sense of helplessness spreads too, when you keep struggling and the mountain still doesn't shrink. So it's worth treating overwhelm as soon as you notice it becoming too much, before it turns into full burnout.
Hypnosis can help against overwhelm. Hypnotic trance lets you power the system down and really catch your breath — which also creates distance from your own problems and your to-do list.
Overwhelm from a hypnotic perspective
Overwhelm comes from the word "demand" — simply too many demands are being placed on us. Some of them are real, like demands at work. Others are self-made, like "it always has to be perfect" or "I have to be the best." Imagined demands play a role too, like "society expects me to..."
The sense of duty
Fundamentally, overwhelm doesn't come from the number of demands, but from the duty, or the felt need, to meet them. Of course nobody wants to lose their job — but there are more and less overwhelming ways to handle demanding environments. Whoever makes too many things their own responsibility, or ties getting them done to their own identity, slides into overwhelm quickly.
Self-perception
The difference between big tasks and tasks that are too big often lies in self-assessment. Someone who sees themselves, deep down, as capable can face tasks more easily — pressure and stress are lower too. Someone who ties their own identity to their activities, though — "I'm only good if I do tasks well" — makes the overwhelm worse.
Balance
Under heavy pressure, balance and time to rest are needed too. Many overwhelmed people struggle to switch off and carry their large pile of tasks around with them mentally at all times. Fundamentally, then, we can say: overwhelm forms in the head. And even the toughest person with the thickest skin eventually buckles if they haven't learned to allow themselves rest.
What helps against overwhelm
Hypnotherapy suits the treatment of overwhelm well. With hypnotic trance, the overwhelm can be tackled at the root: as a hypnotherapist, I encourage the various affected parts to change. Whether it's the sense of duty, self-perception, balance, or something else — the unconscious comes on board to tackle the problem. That reduces the friction with yourself and also works against self-criticism, so the heavy doesn't get even heavier.
In hypnotic trance, the unconscious's own sorting abilities can also be used to build an emotional hierarchy among the demands — which usually also helps order your own thoughts and feelings. A big theme here is often how you weigh your own wishes against those of parents, society, or your boss — old patterns and links here too can be resolved with hypnosis, so you can act more calmly.
Optimising performance
More is often less, which is why less is more here too. Optimising your own performance needs a balance of doing and not doing. Whoever hacks at the tree trunk with a blunt axe is far less efficient than whoever takes the time to sharpen the axe first. The ability to notice when a break makes more sense is directly tied to how well you can listen to yourself — and that, too, can be trained with hypnosis. Often, the client and their unconscious first have to become a team before optimal performance becomes possible at all.
Hypnosis can be used both preventively and for direct treatment of overwhelm this way. The relaxation in trance helps create inner calm and peace — and the possibilities of hypnotic trance can quickly and effectively bring noticeable relief and fundamental change.
