Do you ever just feel completely overwhelmed?

[borisinajohnson]

I’m totally over thinking, but I often feel like this and I wonder if it’s just me?

I guess I feel a bit overwhelmed by the idea that if I stop.... just completely stop, everything will crumble... and it’s not an option is it? You can’t just stop. Can’t just not go to work, not do the school run, not put the washing on, not walk the dog etc etc. Not for any length of time anyway, without it all starting to fall apart.

I don’t particularly want to stop, iykwim, it just overwhelms me sometimes, the mere thought/realisation that stopping isn’t an option. I’m on this treadmill for life. It doesn’t always even feel like a treadmill, but the fact that there’s no stopping just completely overwhelms me sometimes. The responsibilities, and the sheer amount of stuff we have to do every day/week/month.

And then I think, even if I did stop going to work, just thought, fuck it! I’m not doing it, then I’d still need money - so I’d have to claim some benefits* at some point. And that’s another treadmill.And I’d have to sell my house, and find somewhere to rent and on and on and on and on and on and on the treadmill would still go.

Does this even make sense to anyone? I’m fine, btw. I don’t even feel particularly overwhelmed at the moment, but I’m aware that I have these thoughts sometimes and my DH is 🤨 when I try to explain it!

*this is all hypothetical btw. I know you can’t just jack in your job and then qualify for benefits, and I know qualifying for benefits and then managing to live off them is not at all easy. And I’m fine/lucky to have what I have but I just sometimes feel a bit suffocated.

I do know exactly what you mean and sometimes I would like to get off the treadmill for a while! I suppose the way I deal with it is by having mini breaks from the grind of life! Sometimes I go away somewhere. Other times I might just have a day or two off and not then spend that time doing any type of chores! It is a bit different for me as I'm self employed, single and kids grown up. So theoretically I can take time off whenever I want as long as I have enough in the bank to cover my expenses. I'm not sure I could go back to working for an employer and all that goes with that.

We were all so in a rush to be a grown up. Then we realised that being a grown up is totally rubbish. Ugh. Yes. I totally agree. Sometimes I just sit there and think. What if I just didn’t adult today.

I get stupidly overwhelmed from time to time, to the point that I struggle to do simple things like open my post, respond to text messages, eat, do some basic tidying up etc. I agree, I think it’s the pressure from all sides of all the “major” things we have to do in life, that builds up until the smaller ones become stupefying.

Totally get it. I so often feel like a hamster on a wheel, and that's even without dcs in the mix. I suffer from chronic fatigue, which only intensifies the feeling.

I can relate.
It's probably just exhaustion. Is there anything you can cut out? Do the DCs do a million activities? Drop some if you dare (they won't become villains overnight, promise.) Take some pressure off - good enough is good enough. Perfect is not necessary.