Overwhelm hits like a rogue wave. Your chest tightens, thoughts fragment, and every new task feels like another drop pulling you under. In that moment, pushing harder only buries you deeper.
When your attention fractures across dozens of alerts, email threads, and half-started projects, your nervous system floods with cortisol. You end up spinning in place, chasing every ping instead of advancing what truly matters. Overwhelm isn’t just “too much to do”—it’s a signal that your priorities have slipped out of alignment with your purpose.
Overwhelm isn’t just “too many emails.” Whether it’s a work deadline, a worrying call from home, physical exhaustion or financial stress–your amygdala sounds the alarm first. Cortisol spikes, your prefrontal cortex shuts down, and every decision feels impossible. In that state, piling on more “to-dos” only deepens the fog—you can’t think clearly when your brain is hijacked.
There is, however, a way to force your prefrontal cortex back online–cognitive reappraisal. Cognitive reappraisal is connecting the focus of your conscious attention by posing a targeted question to yourself, through speaking or writing. It recruits your executive center and down-regulates the alarm. So ask yourself a question that powerfully rewires your nervous system: Pause right now, take a full, intentional breath, and ask yourself out loud:
“What one outcome would cut this tension by half?”
Speaking or writing this question with focused intention reframes the crisis of your overwhelm as a targeted question rather than a runaway threat. That question becomes your compass: it collapses every noise and points you to the single next move that matters.
When you know exactly what outcome eases half your overwhelm, devote the next fifteen minutes to that one focus—no context-switching, no “urgent” distractions. You’ll feel the cortisol recede and clarity return as you prove to your brain it can trust this moment.
Today’s Dispatch:
Speak, “What one outcome reduces my tension by half?” then spend the next fifteen minutes on that answer—watch overwhelm dissolve when you give your brain a precise target.
Ready to lock in your clarity?
Share your chosen outcome At the Apex Summit, (the Apex Warriors Facebook group) and connect with fellow spiritual warriors sharpening their focus: https://www.facebook.com/share/g/152GCRU9LB/