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1. "A. P. J. Abdul Kalam Quotes." BrainyQuote.com. BrainyMedia Inc, December 2018. https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/a_p_j_abdul_kalam_384108
2. Jennifer Smith. "Overwhelming Depression Makes Daily Tasks Difficult". Healthplace.com. September, 2017. https://www.healthyplace.com/blogs/copingwithdepression/2017/09/the-overwhelming-side-of-depression
3. The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary. "anxiety"  Houghton Mifflin Company. 2002
4. HealthStatus Team. "How is Anxiety Different from Stress?" healthstatus.com 2018. https://www.healthstatus.com/health_blog/depression-stress-anxiety/how-is-anxiety-different-from-stress/

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In conclusion, everyone need to understand that overwhelming obstacles and difficulties will bring tremendous stress to a person, which will cause a negative life attitude and anxiety. Even though sometime people may think they are mentally strong enough that they will not be beat down by the huge pressure, they will not control their bodies as these negative effects occurs, because in most of the case, the occurrence of these effects is associating with human bodies' self defence and reaction systems. Now, it is the time for you to reconsider whether people should always undertake all the difficulties in their lives? Will it bring you successful, or just destroy your lives.

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Furthermore, it is important to know anxiety is another serious effect of pressure led by overwhelming pressure. Anxiety is a state of apprehension and psychic tension occurring in some forms of mental disorder (The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary), and it will do harm to people's daily lives though several aspects. According to a medical report discussing the relationship between anxiety and stress, when a human affords stress that is a mean how a human body reacts with something breaking one's normal life negatively, his or her body will have a serious of reactions. To be specific, a human's adrenal glands will start releasing adrenaline that will active a human body's defence mechanisms; hence, hearts will start pound, blood pressure will started to rise, muscles will started to tense, and the pupils of eyes will start to dilate (HealthStatus Team 2018). Based on this report, the cause and effect between stress and anxiety is quite obvious that anxiety will be caused automatically as human's body react to stress. At the same time, overwhelming obstacles can be a great trigger of the huge pressure people afforded everyday.

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As a person continuously encounter overwhelming obstacles, it will be easy for him or her to bear large pressure. As a result, he or she will gradually turn his or her life attitude to a negative state. Normally it is difficult to a person to always keep a positive attitude when he or she met too much stress. According to a analyzing paper talking about pressure and its effect, overwhelming stress on the author cause him to turn very simple tasks into extremely tough missions. The author lived in huge pressure for several weeks, and during that period, he found it was extremely easy for him to get depression. As he was in this condition, he felt that every single thing would exhaust him. He describe his life condition during that period as "The act of getting out of bed has been an accomplishment for me the past few weeks. On some days, that is enough."(Jennifer Smith 2017) Obviously, the pressure caused by overwhelming obstacles in one's life will easily cause negative live attitude led by some typical appearance including depression and exhausted. In addition, your working efficiency, social circle may both be affected negatively.

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Should we always against all the obstacles that we met in our lives, or should we stay back sometimes just to make our lives easier? This is always a debateable concern that what should we do in front of difficulties. In order to figure this problem out, we have to consider the consequences before make a decision. "Man needs his difficulties because they are necessary to enjoy success." (A.P.J.Abdul Kalam), one of the millions quotes encourage people to face obstacles. However, did people really know what consequences would be caused as a person bears overwhelming obstacles. Actually, affording excess pressure is one typical effects of encountering overwhelming obstacles, which will cause a terrible live attitude and anxiety.

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Affording excess pressure is one typical effects of encountering overwhelming obstacles, which will cause a terrible live attitude and anxiety.

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Stress and anxiety are two different things. Learn what is the difference between stress and anxiety and what are symptoms and causes of both.

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"Man needs his difficulties because they are necessary to enjoy success." - A. P. J. Abdul Kalam quotes from BrainyQuote.com

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Overwhelming Depression Makes Daily Tasks Difficult 

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Overwhelming Depression Makes Daily Tasks Difficult 

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I have been feeling overwhelming depression for the past couple of weeks. Living with a mental illness can make anyone exhausted, turning simple daily tasks into daunting and dreaded foes. My responsibilities loom before me like an abysmal darkness that I cannot escape. Practicing self-care feels impossible. Even thinking about housework or errands exhausts me. Welcome to the hard days of overwhelming depression.

I've been struggling with doing things I know I need to do, such as exercising, showering, getting dressed, and styling my hair. I personally feel better when I wear makeup; however, lately, there have been many days in which I simply haven't had the energy to apply it. The act of getting out of bed has been an accomplishment for me the past few weeks. On some days, that is enough.

With that being said, however, we all must admit that we need to find healthy ways to manage the overwhelming side of depression. Of course, we should seek medical care to help with depression, but there are also some things that we can do to make daily tasks seem less overwhelming for us.

Ideas to Minimize Overwhelming Depression and Complete Daily Tasks

As previously mentioned, sometimes even the act of showering can seem overwhelming to someone with depression. One thing I do is to choose a body wash with a scent that I really like. This way I can look forward to showering because I get to enjoy a pleasant aromatic experience. It's aromatherapy right in your very own bathroom! If I'm feeling extremely tired and overwhelmed, I'll take a bubble bath. I make it extra special by turning off the lights and using candles, and then I play relaxing music. It's a nice way to unwind and practice self-care at the same time (Baths vs. Showers and Why this Schizoaffective Prefers the Bath).

One thing that can be an overwhelming source of stress for me is preparing dinner for my family each night. I have found some ways to make this less stressful and less likely to exacerbate my depression. First of all, I create a weekly menu and post it on the refrigerator. I make the grocery list and shop for the week. This way, everyone knows what's for dinner, and I have all the ingredients on hand. Second, my older daughter helps plan the menu and often cooks dinner one or more nights a week. Finally, my teens help clean the kitchen almost every night. This is a good plan for a couple of reasons. Not only am I finding ways to feel less stressed and overwhelmed, but my teens are learning valuable life skills and empathy as well.

I've also found that on my hardest days with depression, when I'm feeling the most overwhelmed, that if I can manage to do one small task, then eventually more will follow. Often that initial step is the hardest. I suggest starting small and breaking your tasks into manageable chunks. If you do just one thing today, then that's great.

Build small rewards for yourself into your chores and self-care routines. Enlist the help of friends and family; have plans in place before you start feeling overwhelmed. Find ways to make your depression less overwhelming. It is difficult, but we can manage our depression and learn to be productive, even when we're feeling overwhelmed.

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Overwhelming Depression Makes Daily Tasks Difficult

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I have been feeling overwhelming depression for the past couple of weeks. Living with a mental illness can make anyone exhausted, turning simple daily tasks into daunting and dreaded foes. My responsibilities loom before me like an abysmal darkness that I cannot escape. Practicing self-care feels impossible.

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Overwhelmed by Stress and Anxiety? How to Deal with It?

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Overwhelmed by Stress and Anxiety? How to Deal with It?

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Anxiety can feel as though an incredibly loud and boisterous parade is charging right through your very being: blasting bands, flashy floats, animals, and announcers ad nauseam. This chaos within can cause headaches, chest pain, difficulty breathing, excessive sweating, aches and pains, and other noxious anxiety symptoms. Further, our thoughts become anxious and race with worry and obsessions. Often, panic sets in. As if this weren't bad enough, we have to live in the midst of this parade. We have to deal with parade garbage (think about it-debris, litter, road apples) while simultaneously dealing with everything else around us. With pandemonium on the inside, how do we deal with all of the stuff on the outside?

Anxiety and Stress Are Connected and Overwhelming

To be sure, life can be downright crushing. It's often full of stress. When you have to destroy a rainforest in order to write your to-do list, you know you're dealing with too much. Or maybe the number of items is small but they're daunting in nature. The actual number of tasks is relatively inconsequential; what matters is how they impact your well-being. As the more than forty million people living with anxiety disorders can likely attest, overwhelming stress is often closely connected with overwhelming anxiety.

When it comes to stress, anxiety, and feeling overwhelmed, it can be hard to sort out cause and effect. Is your overwhelming stress causing your anxiety? Or perhaps is your overwhelming anxiety causing your life to feel intensely stressful?

Working with a therapist to sort things out can be very beneficial. However, you don't have to know with certainty whether you're anxious because of stress or whether stress is worse because you're anxious. Personally, when I'm overwhelmed and the anxiety-and-stress parade is marching around painfully inside of me and interfering with my outer world, I really don't care which is causing the other. I just know that anxiety and stress are there and connected; I'm overwhelmed and I want the parade to stop.

Ways to Deal with the Overwhelm Caused by Stress and Anxiety

Because anxiety and stress are often Co-Grand Marshals in this obnoxious internal parade, they can be reduced together. Each of the following techniques has been proven to reduce both stress and anxiety:

Avoid All-or-Nothing Thinking

Anxiety can loom so large that we begin to think in extremes: You might think, "I'll never get this done," "I can't do anything right," "If I don't do this perfectly, I'm a failure," "I'm a horrible partner/parent/employee/boss/person," "I made a mistake and now people hate me," and on and on. Of course we feel high anxiety about the outcomes of these things we're telling ourselves.

Recognizing how we're thinking is a helpful step in reducing anxiety. Over the next few days, simply notice your thoughts. What are you telling yourself? Once you become aware of all-or-nothing thinking, you can change how you think and what you say to yourself. "I missed a deadline" changes from "I'm horrible and I'm going to be fired," to "I made a mistake, but I do many good things, too. Overall, I'm valuable and am not likely to lose my job over this single incident."

Break (Or, Rather, Don't)

When we're anxious and stressed, it's easy to look at all of the tasks that lie ahead of us and become overwhelmed. At times, we're stopped in our tracks and completely shut down. We have reached our breaking point. At this point, anxiety is very high, and our ability to cope seems very low. The good news is that we have the power to prevent ourselves from breaking.

The trick? Break! Take breaks, and break up tasks into bits and pieces.

To avoid hypocrisy, I will admit upfront that I find it extremely difficult to take breaks. After all, when life is overwhelming with all of its demands and anxiety is flaring as a result, it just doesn't seem logical or even possible to walk away from stress for a while. However, it is vital. Even a short break can help your mind refresh and reset, and often when you return to your task you do so with a clearer head. Stand and stretch, get some fresh air if possible, massage your temples, breathe deeply. Snacking on something nutritious and energy-sustaining can give your brain and body a needed boost. For me, it seems that I don't have time for a break, but in reality, when my anxiety decreases, I feel less overwhelmed, and I'm actually more productive when I take short breaks here and there throughout the day.

Further, anxiety often surges when tasks loom large in front of us. Life can be incredibly overwhelming when everything seems like one big mess, but it's easier to manage when we break things into manageable bits. Take my desk. It often looks like an office products store exploded on top of it. When I stare at it, I'm overwhelmed and I'm hit by a wave of anxiety that makes me feel like I'm drowning. When I stare at the entire mess, I feel daunted and can hardly begin to fix it. I've learned to break the task into bits. I'll clear one area then take a break. I might choose to put the rest aside and move onto something else, or I might come back and tackle another section. Either way, I've taken control, I can do something about the mess, and I feel my stress and anxiety ease.

To-Do List? How about a To-Done List!

Of course listing the tasks that lie ahead of you is a way of organizing yourself, feeling in charge, and reducing stress and anxiety. Yet it can be overwhelming to look at a huge list that never seems to shrink even when we break it into bits. When we only focus on what we have to do rather than taking stock of all that we have already done, we feel stressed, and anxiety often skyrockets. To keep this in check, consider creating a list of things you've already accomplished, a to-done list, if you will. It's very satisfying at the end of a long and stressful day to think about all that you've done and to write it down. Then, when your anxiety tells you that you're not in control, you can see for yourself that you are indeed in control and are accomplishing things.

Whether you're overwhelmed by anxiety or your anxiety is making you feel overwhelmed, it's stressful. The good news is that it truly is possible to take steps each and every day to rid yourself of anxiety.

What works for you when you're overwhelmed by anxiety?

Author: Tanya J. Peterson, MS, NCC

Tanya J. Peterson is the author of The Mindfulness Journal for Anxiety, The Mindfulness Workbook for Anxiety, Break Free: Acceptance and Commitment Therapy in 3 steps, and five critically-acclaimed, award-winning novels about mental health challenges. She speaks nationally about mental health, and she has a curriculum for middle and high schools. Find her on her website, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

View all posts by Tanya J. Peterson, MS, NCC.

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Overwhelmed by Stress and Anxiety? How to Deal with It

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Anxiety can feel as though an incredibly loud and boisterous parade is charging right through your very being: blasting bands, flashy floats, animals, and announcers ad nauseam. This chaos within can cause headaches, chest pain, difficulty breathing, excessive sweating, aches and pains, and other noxious anxiety symptoms. Further, our thoughts become anxious and race with worry and obsessions.