10/11/2025
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5 more overwhelm-busting rituals
So what other anti-busyness moves can you try when you’re hit with overwhelm freeze?
Explain it to your inner teenager. Hendriksen advises looking at your to-do list and explaining the next steps to yourself as if you were giving “instructions to a teenager who doesn’t really want to do it.” Breaking down a task into ridiculously small components makes it far less likely to overwhelm you.
Touch something alive. Some grass, your dog, the plant on your desk. Even the smallest connection to the natural world has been found to reduce stress. Plus, “touch anchors us. It reminds the nervous system that we’re here, now, and safe,” doctor Michael Hunter claims. That’s why psychologists often suggest paying close attention to your physical surroundings as an antidote to panic.
Speak kindly to yourself. Science shows beating yourself up like a drill sergeant doesn’t help your performance. Self-compassion does. So if you’re feeling overwhelmed, say a few kind words to yourself, maybe even out loud. “You’re doing OK.” “You’re allowed to rest.”
Read a poem. This is another suggestion from Hunter, who claims to keep a couple of poetry collections on his desk for this purpose. Poetry “lights up associative and sensory regions, pulling us out of rigid thought loops,” he insists.
Stand in a patch of sun. Not the literary type? Hunter’s final suggestion should appeal to everyone but vampires — find a patch of sun and stand in it for 90 seconds. It’s hard to be frantic with warmth and light bathing your face. Neuroscience also shows sunlight helps regulate your body’s circadian rhythms, sharpening your focus and improving your mood.
Our brains often work least well when we have the most to do. These small anti-busyness breaks are the solution to the brain freezes that happen when there's just too much going on.
