Overwhelmed…
also swamped, submerged, engulfed, buried, deluged, flooded, and inundated
I’m thinking a lot about overwhelm—what it is and what it does. Overwhelm is when circumstances, internal or external, shift enough that our ways of coping, even coping badly, are inadequate to meet the situation.
The word overwhelm means very different things depending upon whether one is the overwhelmee or the overwhelmer. One who is overwhelmed is: swamped, submerged, engulfed, buried, deluged, flooded, inundated; clogged, saturated, glutted, overloaded, beset, overburdened, snowed under. So many watery words that suggest drowning, and others that suggest being too full, too heavy.
To overwhelm someone or something, on the other hand, is to: defeat (utterly/heavily/easily), trounce, rout, beat, beat hollow, conquer, vanquish, be victorious over, gain a victory over, prevail over, get the better of, triumph over; best, worst, gain mastery over, master, overpower, overcome, overthrow, subdue, suppress, subjugate, repress, quell, quash, crush, finish, bring someone to their knees, break; informal thrash, lick, clobber, whip, wipe the floor with, drub, tank, blow out of the water; US informal own.
Okay, okay, UNCLE! You win! Jeez…
And then there is the third meaning which has more to do with emotion: overcome, move, stir, affect, touch, impress, sweep someone off their feet, strike, stun, make emotional, dumbfound, shake, disturb, devastate, take aback, daze, spellbind, dazzle, floor, leave speechless, take someone's breath away, stagger; informal bowl over, blow away, knock/hit for six, knock sideways, blow someone's mind, get to.
The third meaning is more subtle that the first two… It’s not clear whether this kind of overwhelm is desirable or undesirable. I’m being subjected to an irresistible force, and I like it? In this case, the irresistible force is not exactly trying to dominate and squash me; it is trying to… what? Uplift, expand, move me, change me.
Yes, we are always trying to protect ourselves from overwhelm, and we are always trying to access overwhelm… the good kind. We cry, cringe and quiver at the movies through vicarious overwhelm. We want to feel and we don’t want to drown.
What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger?
My last couple of months have been overwhelming. I am overwhelmed. What does that even mean? Where do I go from here? All the watery and other metaphors for overwhelm do not show the possible reactions to being in this state (or in my case, estate).
My recent experience has been helping me see what I am always trying to avoid seeing, which is that no matter how philosophical I am, I can’t escape from the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, aka lived life.
Any kind of overwhelm calls forth a reaction, whether it is simply the urge to survive as a physical being, or the urge to survive the overwhelm by…. what? What kind of integration, understanding, courage and action is required for overwhelm to transform into effective synthesis?
The calling forth of a reaction can enlarge us—the what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger idea. Sometimes it’s true and sometimes not. But without some kind of overwhelm where is the impetus for new awareness? The translation of experience into altered consciousness is profound and humbling.
A few words about politics…
Politics is in our face. It’s a hot topic, and an important one. I am thankful for all the people who are working diligently to get Kamala Harris elected as our next president. This may be the beginning of a new time. Not just the seesaw of a two-party system, but a necessary shift in awareness.
Our world, our species, our culture, is in a state of overwhelm. It was always thus. What is different now is that the overwhelm is not just the mystery of life, it is what we have wrought through our unbalanced intelligence.
That’s why Kamala’s opponent, and all the people under his sway, are unwilling and unable to solve, or even see, actual problems. Desperate clinging, in the face of overwhelm, to a mythical past of safety by domination, is not a recipe for success.
Art to the rescue?
If you’ve been following my writing for a while, you understand that I use the word “art” in a broad and encompassing way. I use the word and idea of art to mean a relationship we can have with the present. A partnership, in which we have enough faith in overwhelm as a tool and teacher to stay afloat and make cool rafts out of flotsam and jetsam. Maybe even make it to the shore.
Your mastery of what is involved in what it is to be "overwhelmed" quite overwhelmed me with admiration and happiness to have been privileged to read your wonderful thoughts.