Anyone else feeling overwhelmed and wired from work and family pressures?

[Olive42]

I know many other people feel like this but right now and for several days I have a strong sense of overwhelm and low level anxiety. In my mid 30s - don’t think I am in perimenopause yet.

Think I kind of feel psychologically threatened and am in fight or flight mode 60/70% of the time at the moment. I am not in a difficult financial situation - we have enough to live pretty well on so it isn’t coming from that and I sm grateful for that but this is how I feel currently:

1. Regular overstimulation from my working day due to being around hundreds of (lovely, mostly but not all) teenagers in a high-pressure for results school and it’s currently exam time - this is an enormous factor.
2. I react by over talking often with colleagues which leaves me even more wired. I regret some of the things I say after and replay them in my head at times.
3. SEN issues with one of my own children - recently diagnosed which I feel like I don’t have enough time to deal with (though I do really).
4. Caring about the students I teach a bit yoi much. Detrimental to my own health.
5. Oversharing with my lovely family. We had a wider family party today and I feel I brought it down by taking about negative issues.
6. Think I have tinnitus starting from too much noise around me.
7. doing most of housework as DH works 60+ hour weeks.

on the plus side:
I love:

• helping children and feel like I am making a (slight) difference
• being in my garden in the morning ha but a coffee/tea listening to birds
• Being with my two dc

lots of positives

That had helped a lot just typing it out. Think learning to talk about 30% less would help me a lot - energy wise etc…just got into a habit now.

if you got this far… thank you for reading.
anyone else feel similar or any useful advice?

Thanks ☺️

I feel this too

We are both up in the middle of the night. Feeling stressed?

If your child is being assessed for SEN issues then i wouldn't be too surprised if you had undiagnosed neurodiversity yourself. Your sensory challenges and anxiety point towards combination of Autism/ADHD.

I'd suggest you get assessed yourself and learn some intervention techniques to manage & control your symptoms.

Hello,

Sorry to hear. I'm using jigsaws and colouring books on the recommendation of a therapist to try to knock myself out of red alert.

Maybe journalling too, to externalise what you want to share!?

It sounds tiring reading it. I am in pretty much the same boat. It’s so hard to not worry about how the students perform and get caught up in it too. This time of year feels a bit manic.

I agree with the previous poster about finding out if you have an undiagnosed need. I haven’t had a diagnosis but am more aware that I might be since my dc’s diagnosis.

I found that building more rest and reset time for the children and I at weekends and school holidays has helped massively. I used to plan to meet friends all the time or longer trips out. I was more likely to over share or get a bit wired. This has made a positive difference to us. We still socialise a lot but with people that I can let my guard down around - I hope you have some of them too.

I hope you can find some ways to make it feel easier - school is tough and it’s hard not to feel that you don’t give enough to your children too.

I can relate to a lot of this too. We’re waiting for OFSTED too and I just feel completely overwhelmed all of the time. Every night I dream about inspections or exams so never feel well rested when I wake up. It’s just too much.

@Olive42 I read your post while awake with raging tinnitus, waiting to be woken up by my teen with complex needs and overthinking about next week's work at school... it's of little help, but you are not alone.
I really recognise what you say about overtalking... sometimes I offload and feel so much worse afterwards, replaying things that I said. Not helped by the fact that I am a massive gobshite, and tend to say exactly what's in my head!!

I'm trying not to do it, and to do things like write it on my phone and delete it, or save it for my dh... but tbh, he's also overtired, overworked and overeveryfuckingthing!
I also feel massively overpeopled by the weekend, and just feel crushed by the weight of it all.
I dream of living in a hut on an island, with cats and coffee... but then I'd probably get lonely, and the cats would get really pissed off with my constant over analysing!!

Thank you for your thoughtful replies. I am sorry for all of us feelings like this.

But…I went out for a peaceful walk in nature with the dog this afternoon for two hours and feel a great deal better. Just need to keep doing that regularly as a kind of antidote to the busyness. I hope everyone manages to find some peace.

School and education are important but not so important that they should affect us so negatively . I am going to work on giving 80% each working week, instead of 100 for a bit. Otherwise, I may burnout. @voxnihili i suggest you try that too. Maybe give 90% when Ofsred are there. 😆 A regulated present but imperfect adult in a child’s life is much more important than a ‘perfect’ one.

@HazeyjaneIII I hope you find some peace. Your post really resonated with me. I am not very new age…but have you tried meditation? 🧘I do it with the Calm app when I remember and it is really helpful. 20 minutes feels like a couple of hours sleep to me. X

Got to go and make sure all the school uniforms are ready for the week…