Why We Are So Overwhelmed Today
We usually blame overwhelm on being too busy. Too many commitments and too many demands. Too little time.
But some of the most overwhelming seasons of life have nothing to do with busyness at all.
I learned that during the hardest season of my life.
When Overwhelm Had Nothing to Do With Busyness
When Wendy, my late wife, was diagnosed with stage IV pancreatic cancer, life didn’t speed up. In many ways, it slowed down dramatically.
There were long hours sitting in hospital rooms. Long nights alone in hotel rooms. Long stretches of silence with nothing demanding my attention.
And yet, the stress was crushing.
There was no packed calendar to blame. No frantic pace to slow down. No schedule to reorganize.
In fact, there was too much time on my hands.
And in that quiet, my mind became the battlefield.
Fear had room to speak.
“What if?” questions multiplied.
Worst-case scenarios replayed endlessly.
Satan didn’t need busyness to work. He needed silence filled with uncertainty.
That season taught me something important: overwhelm is not always caused by doing too much. Sometimes it comes from carrying a weight you cannot set down.
Overwhelm Comes in More Than One Form
That’s why advice like “just slow down” or “rest more” often misses the point.
Sometimes stress comes from pressure, grief, and uncertainty.
Sometimes it comes from fear and waiting.
And sometimes, it comes from a life that never stops moving.
I learned that lesson again—but from the opposite extreme—years earlier.
The Night That Changed How I Saw Busyness
When my son was ten years old, baseball signups were on a Tuesday night.
He had played the year before and liked it, so I assumed we were signing up again. I wasn’t looking forward to it. Practices would be Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. Games on Saturday—sometimes one, sometimes two. Wednesday nights were already AWANA and church. Sundays were full with church responsibilities.
Our schedule already felt tight. Baseball would squeeze it even more.
I hollered upstairs for him to come down so we could leave. He came down slowly. When he reached the bottom of the stairs, he asked a question I didn’t expect.
“Do I have to play baseball?”
He knew the family rule. Once you signed up, you didn’t quit. So I asked him why.
He said he liked baseball. That wasn’t the issue.
He said he had been constantly busy since the beginning of the school year—first football, then basketball, and now baseball and he wanted a break. He wanted to come home from school and not rush out the door to another practice.
Inside, I silently shouted hallelujah.
I told him no. He didn’t have to play.
That moment exposed something uncomfortable. Baseball wasn’t just stress for me and my wife. It was stress for our son. And without realizing it, we had taught him that nonstop activity was normal.
We Didn’t Just Inherit Overwhelm—We Modeled It
We often wonder why our kids grow up anxious, exhausted, and overwhelmed. Why, when they leave home, their lives fill up with constant activity.
In many cases, the answer is close to home.
We taught them that being busy meant being productive.
That saying yes was virtuous.
That rest had to be earned.
Overwhelm didn’t sneak into our homes. It was modeled.
Scripture Has Always Recognized This Weariness
The Bible doesn’t pretend this problem is new.
“Everything is wearisome beyond description. No matter how much we see, we are never satisfied.”
(Ecclesiastes 1:8, NLT)
That verse doesn’t describe laziness. It describes overload—too much input, too many demands, too little rest for the soul.
Whether the stress comes from silence and fear or activity and pressure, the result is the same: exhaustion of the heart.
Why “Just Rest More” Misses the Point
That’s why simple advice falls flat.
You can’t rest your way out of grief.
You can’t schedule your way out of fear.
And you can’t fix learned patterns overnight.
- Some stress is unavoidable.
- Some stress is inherited.
- Some stress is self-reinforcing.
And all of it affects the mind.
A First Step That Brings Relief Right Now
Here is something Scripture makes clear—and many overwhelmed people never hear:
Feeling overwhelmed does not mean you are failing God.
“He knows how weak we are; he remembers we are only dust.”
(Psalm 103:14, NLT)
God does not look at human limitation with disappointment. He looks at it with understanding. Scripture does not shame weariness—it acknowledges it.
The apostle Paul learned this when he pleaded with God to remove what burdened him. God’s response was not immediate relief, but sustaining grace.
“My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.”
(2 Corinthians 12:9, NLT)
That reframes everything.
Overwhelm does not mean God has stepped away.
Weakness does not mean you are behind spiritually.
It often means you are standing in a place where God’s grace must carry what you cannot.
Where This Series Fits Together
This post names the problem—how overwhelm can come from both crushing stillness and relentless activity.
Paste links to the other posts in this series below:
- Stress – https://www.discipleblueprint.com/category/stress
- Depression – https://www.discipleblueprint.com/category/depression
- Anxiety – https://www.discipleblueprint.com/category/anxiety
- All Posts on Mental Health – https://www.discipleblueprint/category/mentalhealth
Together, these posts move from recognition, to understanding, to a biblical way forward.
Call to Action
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