Overwhelmed!

It’s too much! I’m overwhelmed! He or she won’t leave me alone. They’re really overwhelming me.  I have to plan, cook, clean, take care of the kids, and insert 5 other obligations! I’m so overwhelmed! It’s all too much!

Any of these sound familiar? We use the word overwhelmed to describe a significant degree of intense emotion. It can be used positively (overwhelmed by support, for example), but is often used in a negative manner.

According to Merriam-Webster, overwhelmed can mean 1. To affect someone or something very strongly, 2. To cause someone to have too much to deal with, and 3. To defeat someone completely.

In my experience, overwhelmed is OVERWHELMINGLY associated with Definition 2, to cause someone to have too much to deal with. I have been changing my perspective to define it as the first, to affect someone very strongly.

Big Daddy Weave has a song, “Overwhelmed”. It’s a beautiful song for worship, with lyrics like, “I delight myself in  You, captivated by Your beauty.  I’m overwhelmed by You.”  Captivated by God, now isn’t that much better than having too much to deal with?

In the next month from the time this is written, I will be moving and will begin a school year as a full-time Special Education teacher. It can be easy to feel overwhelmed already, in that I have too much to do. I’m choosing to keep the perspective, not of too much to do, but being captivated by all that I GET to do! I have a new home AND a new job! How awesome! I’m captivated by this next chapter of my life!

In The Journey Training, participants are equipped with tools to deal with their feelings and perspectives! Sign up for the next Threshold class and you will be overwhelmed by the love and support you receive…and you don’t have to cook or clean a thing!