Why Life Can Feel Overwhelming (According to Cognitive Neuroscience) and How to Manage It

Have you ever had to work in an open space no matter how hard you try to concentrate on finishing your writing, you keep on latching on to the surrounding conversations and your mind keeps on getting distracted? You forgot to bring your noise cancelling headphones, and eventually you felt frustrated and you wished you could escape to a solitary room to find some peace and quiet so you can concentrate on completing your work. 

You wonder how your colleague does it, no headphones on, was having an animated conversation, while also typing away on the laptop.

Is there something different about how your brain is designed? You felt overstimulated from your surroundings, while your colleague seemed to be a whizz at multitasking the various tasks in an environment that was distracting to you.

Or have you ever felt frozen when looking at your to-do list and felt overwhelmed at the amount of things that needed to get done in a short period of time? 

Overwhelm can feel like a traffic jam in our minds, but why does this happen?

 

How Our Brain is Designed

Well, what is being overwhelmed in the first place?

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, the word overwhelm is a verb, that means to overcome or to overpower in thought or in feeling. It originated from Middle English word whelmen, which means, "to overturn" and now the use of the word overwhelm has become more popular to describe a reaction to powerful forces or feelings. The Calm website describes the feeling overwhelm akin to having a cup that has been filled to the brim and any more water added to it, the cup will overflow. This overflow is the experience of feeling "there is too much to handle."

So, why does this phenomenon happen, and why do some people seem to experience it more so than others? The answer lies in how our brain is designed. 

According to neuroscience research on the brain, we can experience overwhelm in 2 ways, cognitively or emotionally.

Cognitive overload is 

For the Highly Sensitive Brain 

Sensory Processing Sensitivity

Depth of Processing

 

How to Manage Overwhelm and Keep Your Focus