So you've left your keys in the fridge – an unusual lapse in memory. Lately, your stress levels have been increasing, in both your personal life and at work. You've noticed a shift in your demeanor when under pressure, and it's affecting your decision-making and effectiveness. The toll isn't just on you; your colleagues feel the weight of your moods too.

Find The Traumatic Event

What I've found is that there's often an emotionally traumatic event that pushes us from the realm of everyday stress into overwhelm. It's the proverbial straw that breaks the camel's back. This trigger could be a sudden workload avalanche, relentless pressure from all directions, or a critical task delayed by uncontrollable factors.

To find this trigger, ask yourself: When did it all start to feel this heavy? What happened at that precise moment?

Understanding the triggering event can provide profound insights into your reactions, helping you recognize when it's time to step back and reassess. When you're in that hyper-stressed state caused by a traumatic event, your primal, reptilian brain kicks into the fight-or-flight mode, causing a state of heightened alertness and frenzy.

The Cost of Overwhelm

Once you're in this fight-or-flight mode, it's easy to get stuck there. Cortisol levels soar, adrenaline surges and histamines wreak havoc on your nervous and endocrine systems – and your sanity. Your work, your ability to make a difference, and your relationships suffer. You become short-tempered, irritable, prone to outbursts, and, worst of all, you lose sight of the big picture, resorting to quick fixes instead of inspired solutions.

And it just feels terrible.

A Surprising Trick To Deal With Overwhelm, Burnout or Stress

Take inventory: What state are you in right now? Have you been feeling like a different person at work?

If so, give that person a name. Really. Go into who that part of you really is. Suppose her name is Sarah.

• What are Sarah's needs? What does she want? What is Sarah's fears? What is Sarah thinking right now?
• What's Sarah's physiology like? Is she breathing shallow and fast, or slow and steady? Is her jaw tight and clamped or do words easily flow from them?
• Why has that part of you come into your life and how do they believe they serve you?

Acknowledge that part of you, appreciate how they've come to serve you, and send them away. For the health of your nervous system, the efficiency of your decisions, and the opportunities missed enjoying the beautiful finite gift that life is, send them away.

Say: Sarah, I've got this, I'm in charge now, you can go take a break.

Now, who is the part of you who is more generous and wise? Or the part of you who can go in the zone of concentration at work and churn out miracles? Give that person a name.

Let's say it's Carmen.

• How does Carmen think? What does she want? What guides Carmen's life?
• How does Carmen carry herself? How does she treat others?
• What is life all about for Carmen?

I hope this awareness helps you in bringing out even more of your innate patience, kindness, and peace in the workplace.

Have you been stressed lately? Tell us in the comments below what you learned about the stressed part of you from that situation.