When Being Overwhelmed Becomes too Much

I just finished this piece, and it feels like it painted me as much as I painted it. A single, bloodshot eye stares unblinking, unable to look away. Jagged teeth spill out chaos, a flood too heavy to contain. That’s what life feels like right now, everything bursting at the seams. Every time I glance at the news, it’s another wave of crisis. Wars. Disasters. Political battles. Economic uncertainty. It feels like the world itself is screaming, bleeding out in front of us, and we’re forced to watch. Even if we’re not directly in the fire, the heat still reaches us through the screen, leaving us scorched and weary. For me, living with mental health challenges means that the world outside and the world inside often mirror each other. My mind can spiral into its own chaos, echoing the overwhelm I see in the headlines. Some days, it feels like I’m swallowing the weight of every conflict, every catastrophe, until it erupts in ways I can’t control. This artwork became my release valve, a way to take that eruption and give it form outside of myself, instead of letting it devour me from within. But here’s what surprised me: in creating it, I realized that being overwhelmed doesn’t have to define me. By giving it a face, by making it visible, I took some of its power away. The creature in the painting looks terrifying, but in the end, it’s just lines, colors, and shapes. In the same way, the chaos in our minds and the noise of the world aren’t the whole story of who we are. If you’ve been feeling consumed by it all, you’re not alone. The truth is, sometimes it really is too much, and admitting that is an act of courage. But in that acknowledgment, there’s also room to create. To write, to paint, to sing, or simply to breathe. To carve out even a small space where the chaos can’t reach. This artwork is my reminder that while the world may be overwhelming, I don’t have to be swallowed by it. And neither do you. How do you disconnect from the news or deal with being overwhelmed? Feel free to share in the comments.