Gathering with family always stresses me out… too many voices, faces, expectations. My brain’s like "Peace out, I’m checking email". But seriously, holiday chaos can trigger that overwhelmed feeling, especially if you’re sensitive to noise and stimulation. You’re not alone in feeling like your focus goes haywire, it’s about giving yourself permission to take a quick time-out when needed
When I get overwhelmed it’s less that my brain shuts off and more like I can feel like a literal pressure like feeling in my skull, I hate it, I don’t handle it well.
Yep. I’ve got some sort of neurodivergent thing going on in the anxiety/autism/ADD space that I need to get properly diagnosed, but it manifests a lot as shutting down until I’m able to isolate away from overstimulation for a while. Like a pressure or weight or the "don’t touch that hot stove" instinct but directed at something innocuous. If I absolutely have to I can "pilot my body" to still do things with my rational brain through it, but that kind of creeps everyone out and I still have to shut off and unwind afterward.
I’m like blue tooth headphones, “power off” is my go to setting in overwhelming situations. I’ve always been selectively social, picking and choosing when and where to go. Now, with the political climate of the world, it’s mostly “thanks, but no thanks”. The last few times I’ve been out the conversation took a turn that I don’t want to go down.
Yup…. And absolutely no decision-making! I can wake up and try to get dressed for the day; later look in my bedroom and almost every single item of clothing is out! The floor and bed are huge messes, which tells me (not so subtly) that I was totally stressed that morning. Sometimes I have a hard time remembering that day-as if I were sleep-walking through it. Does this sound like you? If not, I apologize for misunderstanding your question, but I took overwhelmed to mean stressing out.
Yup. The only way I can best explain it is that my brain is full of a really dark gray cloud and my thoughts , the bit of thoughts I can form, are buried deep , DEEP DEEEEP in those clouds .
Yes! At work especially. If I make a mistake or encounter a problem, after that I have trouble doing anything until I get a break to gather myself. My brain says, nope, rebooting.
Yessss I do this quite often. At family events I always hide in the bathroom for at least a few minutes and just listen to music. Sometimes late at night I can get too caught up in my own head so I just put on music or a good YouTube video and do an activity that’ll take my focus and my mind will just go all silent. Most of the time it’s nice, sometimes i get scared of my own mind and how overwhelmed I get.
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YUP sometimes I just sit and stare and tune everything out. It’s mostly the noise that gets me
Yep. Hate it.
Gathering with family always stresses me out… too many voices, faces, expectations. My brain’s like "Peace out, I’m checking email". But seriously, holiday chaos can trigger that overwhelmed feeling, especially if you’re sensitive to noise and stimulation. You’re not alone in feeling like your focus goes haywire, it’s about giving yourself permission to take a quick time-out when needed
When I get overwhelmed it’s less that my brain shuts off and more like I can feel like a literal pressure like feeling in my skull, I hate it, I don’t handle it well.
Yep. Causes a lot of issues with life.
Yep. I’ve got some sort of neurodivergent thing going on in the anxiety/autism/ADD space that I need to get properly diagnosed, but it manifests a lot as shutting down until I’m able to isolate away from overstimulation for a while. Like a pressure or weight or the "don’t touch that hot stove" instinct but directed at something innocuous. If I absolutely have to I can "pilot my body" to still do things with my rational brain through it, but that kind of creeps everyone out and I still have to shut off and unwind afterward.
Yes. It’s turned into some embarrassing situations with work where I end up looking like a bumbling idiot in meetings.
Oh hell yeah. If I have a lot to do I will get so overwhelmed that I get paralyzed. It’s awful
I’m like blue tooth headphones, “power off” is my go to setting in overwhelming situations. I’ve always been selectively social, picking and choosing when and where to go. Now, with the political climate of the world, it’s mostly “thanks, but no thanks”. The last few times I’ve been out the conversation took a turn that I don’t want to go down.
Yeah I’m autistic and this has been a big recurring problem in my life, particularly with work and school.
Yes. And I get paralyzed physically
Dissociation. It’s a defense mechanism. I get it a lot
Mine doesn’t shut off necessarily, but so much starts happening inside of it at once that it renders itself useless and basically is just shut off.
Recently I’ve been overwhelmed with stress, and it’s gotten to the point where I’m even struggling to concentrate on reading a book
Yup…. And absolutely no decision-making! I can wake up and try to get dressed for the day; later look in my bedroom and almost every single item of clothing is out! The floor and bed are huge messes, which tells me (not so subtly) that I was totally stressed that morning. Sometimes I have a hard time remembering that day-as if I were sleep-walking through it. Does this sound like you? If not, I apologize for misunderstanding your question, but I took overwhelmed to mean stressing out.
Wish I had your turbo function, never been overwhelmed. I just stress my shoulders stiff.
Yep. And THC helps keep it shut off.
Yes. I just freeze and can’t do a thing. Not many people understand it which makes me feel even worse.
Fight Flight Freeze Fawn
yes, in fact i’m buffering right now
It’s an anxiety freeze response I believe
sameee my brain just fully clocks out when theres too much goin on lol like error 404 thoughts not found
Yup. The only way I can best explain it is that my brain is full of a really dark gray cloud and my thoughts , the bit of thoughts I can form, are buried deep , DEEP DEEEEP in those clouds .
Very much so. Gotten better over the years.
Yes! At work especially. If I make a mistake or encounter a problem, after that I have trouble doing anything until I get a break to gather myself. My brain says, nope, rebooting.
Oh absolutely. I struggle to think straight, communicate and can appear to zone out.
Me rn. I’ve got so much studying to do, but I’m straight frozen on the couch.
all the time. i go into zombie mode.
Pretty sure that’s what overwhelmed means
Yessss I do this quite often. At family events I always hide in the bathroom for at least a few minutes and just listen to music. Sometimes late at night I can get too caught up in my own head so I just put on music or a good YouTube video and do an activity that’ll take my focus and my mind will just go all silent. Most of the time it’s nice, sometimes i get scared of my own mind and how overwhelmed I get.
Yes, most of the times when I get overwhelmed i just freeze and don’t want to exist anymore
Yes, and unfortunately this happens every time my boss walks into the room while I’m working
my brain shut off when i decided to make a reddit account
I call it, "punching my time card"
My therapist calls it "disassociation" 😅
Yep, it’s like "the lights are on but nobody’s home.