On my second day walking the coast of Great Britain, I was overwhelmed on trail. I was in terrible weather, wet, hungry, getting cold and didn’t know when I could dry out. I couldn’t comprehend walking in those conditions for a year, especially as the weather would worsen through winter.
I’ve also felt chronically overwhelmed in life. I had very low self esteem and held myself to unrealistic expectations of how I should be; it meant I always perceived myself as failing.
Overwhelm is a symptom of stress caused by struggling to cope with the situation we’re in, whatever that might be. It can appear as: