Written By Lizabeth Roemer, Ph.D., and Josh Bartok, M.S.

There are many understandable reasons to feel overwhelmed and distressed right now. Personal experiences, news stories, and other people’s experiences all bring reasons for distress and fear. And the sense of overwhelm can leave us feeling numb, stuck, or hopeless.

We feel these things too, and this post is not going to provide a clear solution for all of this. Instead, we want to share a few suggestions of ways to ground ourselves in the midst of overwhelm, so that we can better choose effective actions and engage fully in our lives even amid these understandable feelings.

Being bombarded with frightening images and events naturally leads our bodies to become activated to fight or flee (or freeze). Our muscles tense, our hearts and minds race, and we prepare for action. This is great if there is a single threat approaching us, but when we are being faced with unending potential risks, our nervous systems get overwhelmed and it becomes harder to engage with our lives. Knowing this, we can take time to soothe our system by gently releasing our muscles by engaging in soothing actions like baths, tea, lighting candles, wrapping ourselves in a blanket, cuddling with a loved one or pet, or........

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