Managing Overwhelm with Radical Acceptance
Help! I am feeling so Intense/Overwhelmed!
Do you have so much on your plate that you feel overwhelmed? Do your emotions feel so intense, like they have washed over you like a tidal wave, giving meaning to the saying “I’m drowning!”. When we experience intense emotions - like stress, anxiety, fear, pain, depression, anger - it can become hard to function. We can become debilitated, paralysed, and overwhelmed by the intensity of these emotions, and they can impact our ability to function.
What can we do to feel better?
While we know that we would be able to function a whole lot easier if we didn’t have intense feelings of stress, anxiety, fear, pain, depression and anger, unfortunately we cannot always avoid feeling this way. Life is full of ups and downs, so too our emotions - this is completely normal - although not easy! However, we don’t need to be stuck or helpless in our struggle with them. We can practice radical acceptance.
What is Radical Acceptance?
Radical acceptance is a distress tolerance skill and one way of shifting our view slightly when intense emotions are not particularly helpful and don’t improve a situation (in fact we often feel worse). Radial acceptance is acknowledging your present situation, whatever that is, without judging the events or criticizing yourself and others. Rather, it is recognizing your present situation exists due to a long chain of events that began far in the past. It is accepting your current reality.
Radical acceptance is not condoning or agreeing with everything all the time, like bad behaviour in others. It is, however, a change in attitude and a new way of looking at life. This new lens is thought to refocus your attention on what you CAN do now, allowing you to think more clearly and figure out a better way of coping. Denying the facts of reality will not change the facts, but will keep us stuck I thoughts such as “this is unfair”, “why me?”, and “why now” and is likely to prolong your suffering.
Have you ever spent so much time fighting the past? Wishfully thinking that your intense emotion will change the outcome of an event that has already occurred. Did you become paralysed and helpless? Did nothing improve? When we are overly judgmental of a situation, or overly critical of ourselves and others, it often leads to more pain and can influence us to miss crucial details, signifying the expression “being blinded by rage”.
Example of Radical Acceptance Coping Statements:
“This is the way it has to be.”
“All the events have led up to now.”
“I can’t change what’s already happened.”
“Fighting the past only blinds me to my present.”
“The present is the only moment I have control over.”
Using radical acceptance coping statements is one way to learn how to overcome intense emotions, there are many more! If you are feeling overwhelmed or experiencing intense emotions and would like some helpful information and support, please reach out to the team at Progressive Psychology on 0477 798 932. Our supportive Psychologists are here to help!