Do you ever get overwhelmed? I get overwhelmed quite easy (with life in general). Everyone has experienced or will experience this emotion/feeling at some point in their lives. No matter your life’s circumstances, we are all exposed and capable of becoming overwhelmed. Being overwhelmed is more than being stressed out. It’s being at the point that your thoughts and feelings about all of life’s current problems are all consuming and seemingly too great to handle or overcome. This obviously would affect your daily life…how you think and act and even how you function on a daily basis.
I have an increased vulnerability to becoming overwhelmed with life’s struggles; as well as others that already struggle with depression, anxiety, and/or other mental illnesses do. When someone begins to feel overwhelmed, cortisol, the “stress hormone” is released which causes intense anxiety. At the same time the chemical that helps our bodies fight off depression and anxiety…serotonin…starts to deplete. An intense feeling of despair associated with being overwhelmed can be caused by this combination. Serotonin is already decreased, before any of this ever happens, in someone that is depressed…along with other chemical imbalances. So it’s understandable that some of us get overwhelmed more easily, more often and more heavily than others.
FACT-> “LIFE” can often be overwhelming! There are many different things that can trigger or lead someone to an emotional overwhelm. Some include a habitual lack of sleep, lack of nutrition, demanding job, physical or mental health illness, death of a loved one, or personal traumas such as abuse. So now that I’ve established that everyone has faced or will face this overwhelming feeling at some point in life, what does that tell me???
It tells me number one that we aren’t doing “life” alone. We all have ups and downs. When life is overwhelming we become burdened. The loads in life that we have to carry become extra heavy sometimes and it becomes very difficult to carry alone…sometimes seemingly impossible. We are to lift one another in prayer and give words of encouragement daily. We should never let our fellow Christians carry the weight of their worldly troubles alone. Galatians 6:2a tells us to Bear one another’s burdens…
There are a lot of not so good things that come along with social media. But it also brings some good things with it. I live in a small town/community. A lot of us are kin and the rest are friends, for the most part. Each day I see tons of prayers & encouragement given out to one another on social media. It really is awesome!
Now here’s the really awesome part…we do not have to carry/bear our burdens alone. Even if you’re not getting prayers or encouragement from others, there is still someone that will gladly bear our burdens for us. Psalm 55:22 says Give your burdens to the Lord, and He will take care of you.
