The Weight of Overwhelm: Learning to Breathe Again

Overwhelm isn’t just mental—it’s physical. It sits in your shoulders, behind your eyes, in that space where your breath never quite feels deep enough. It’s not just a busy schedule or a long to-do list. It’s the quiet panic that comes from trying to hold everything together when you know, deep down, that you can’t.

Business coach Jaime Gennaro reminds her clients to take time to themselves when experiencing overwhelm.

The Truth About Overwhelm

When you tell someone you’re overwhelmed, it can sound like failure. Like you weren’t strong enough, focused enough, disciplined enough to handle it all. So you say you’re just tired. Or distracted. Or unmotivated. You push harder, add more, and hope no one notices that you’re running on fumes.

But overwhelm isn’t weakness—it’s your body and mind asking for relief. It’s the moment before burnout. The signal that you’ve been in “prove myself” mode for too long.

“We get defensive about overwhelm, because it makes us feel like we’re failing. But naming it doesn’t mean you’re failing—it means you’re self-aware.”

- Jaime Gennaro, from the Podcast

Control Is a Distraction

When life feels chaotic, control feels safe. You tighten your grip—on your work, your team, your schedule. You start micromanaging, trying to get everything just right. But control doesn’t heal chaos. It amplifies it.

One client, overwhelmed by personal challenges, began pushing harder at work. She thought control would calm her, but it only left her disconnected from her team and from herself. Because what we’re really looking for in control is peace—and peace never comes from forcing things into place.

As senior managers, there’s a tendency to believe that if we just push harder, work longer, or criticize ourselves more, we’ll reach perfection. But perfectionism is a trap. It keeps us in a cycle of negative self-talk, constantly feeling “not enough.”

“Leadership is about resilience, adaptability, and growth—and that growth requires grace and compassion for yourself.”

Beating ourselves up doesn’t serve our teams, our organizations, or ourselves. It blocks our ability to see what’s working, blinds us to new perspectives, and robs us of the joy in our work. Allowing imperfection means understanding that setbacks are part of the process and that every leader, no matter how seasoned, has moments of doubt and self-reflection.

Saying “No” Without Shame

Overwhelm thrives in a world of half-hearted yeses.
“Yes, I’ll take that on.”
“Yes, I can do it.”
“Yes, I’ll make it work.”

And then comes the resentment, the exhaustion, the whisper of I can’t keep doing this.

“Don’t say yes unless it’s a wholehearted yes,” she says. “Otherwise, you’re only building resentment—for yourself and for others.”

A “no” doesn’t mean you’re giving up. It means you’re choosing what matters most. It’s one of the most compassionate things you can do—for your work, your relationships, and your nervous system.

The Slow Burn of Burnout

Burnout doesn’t happen overnight. It begins in small moments—when checking your email feels heavy, when dinner feels like a decision too big to make. When you’ve run out of motivation but can’t rest because resting feels like losing.

This is your nervous system on overload. Your body has been flooded with cortisol and adrenaline for too long. You’re not broken—you’re exhausted.

Rest isn’t indulgence. It’s repair.

Redefining Strength

We live in a culture that glorifies the grind—where rest looks like weakness and exhaustion looks like dedication. But the truth is simpler and softer:

Running yourself into the ground isn’t strength.
Pushing through pain isn’t resilience.
Bloody feet don’t make you a better runner—they mean you didn’t stop when you should have.

True resilience is knowing when to pause. It’s being brave enough to stop proving, to slow down, to trust that your worth isn’t tied to how much you can endure.

If you’re in the thick of overwhelm right now, you’re not alone. You don’t need to earn your rest. You don’t need to prove your strength. You just need to listen—to your body, to your intuition, to the quiet voice that’s asking for a break.

Start by admitting it: I’m overwhelmed.

Then drop one thing. Just one.
And breathe.

Because your calm, grounded, clear self—the one who leads with confidence and heart—is still there. She’s just waiting for you to stop proving and start resting.

Jaime Gennaro is a seasoned business consultant and coach with over 20 years of experience helping companies achieve sustainable growth and leadership success. She has held leadership roles in marketing and operational strategy across various industries, including tech startups and creative agencies. Jaime specializes in business coaching for entrepreneurs and guiding leaders in balancing personal and professional growth. She focuses on reducing burnout, achieving business clarity, and developing entrepreneurial leadership strategies for long-term success.

If you're ready to take the next step in your journey, I invite you to take our burnout quiz (and then schedule a consult with me to make a plan to shift things for you!)