Could you tell me a time you felt overwhelmed?

I work in the skateboard NGO world and this year has been the most difficult in terms of work stress that I have ever had. 

As more and more projects and events came our way I was finding it difficult to say no to things, as I felt that I could probably handle them and that if I could then I should do it. 

Everything reached a point a few months ago where I had a breakdown and I realised that there was no way that I could do everything that had been planned. The feeling I had was a mixture of guilt and mental exhaustion. Guilt because, in theory, everything was achievable, and the people with whom I was working overseas lived in a much worse situation that I do. The idea of looking after my own mental health was a foreign idea to me, and one which I thought I would not have to think about as most things we’re seemingly going OK. 

There was a specific moment in which I realised I couldn’t continue in this way and have since been opening up more about the pressure and stress I was under. Thankfully, in some ways, there were several other people who work in the same field who were also having to deal with similar issues, and coming to terms with the fact that we needed to take some proactive steps in order to work out how best to continue. 

Looking back with hindsight it was obvious that this was going to happen. My colleague and I often discussed the issue of having a lot on our plate and the need to take things a bit easier but we didn’t really put those ideas into actions until we had suffered the consequences, learning the hard way. 

In many ways I am grateful for having had this experience when I did and having a supportive network of friends and family around. I feel that if I had somehow managed to get through it alone it would only be a matter of time before it would happen more severely and have far bigger negative impacts both on my work and my personal life. 

My colleague and I are now in the process of getting help and are a lot more open and honest about taking adequate time off and letting the others on our team know when we need a break and how we are feeling.