The Powerful Way To Handle Overwhelm When You’re Exhausted with Jess Dahl EP.87

Author: Jess Dahl
September 10, 2026

If you're in a season where you're feeling overwhelmed, exhausted, or stretched thin, I want to invite you into this conversation with me.
Listen to the Say Yes Anyway Podcast Episode

What to Do When Everything Feels Like Too Much

I almost didn’t record this episode.
Honestly, everything felt like too much.

I was looking at my calendar, my responsibilities, the people I was serving, the things that needed my attention, and all of the little things that somehow find their way onto your plate when you're trying to build a full life. I remember thinking, How am I possibly supposed to do all of this?

Maybe you've had that feeling too.

You look at everything in front of you and it feels like there is no obvious place to start. You have work to do, people who need you, commitments you've made, responsibilities you can't simply ignore, and somewhere underneath all of it, you're exhausted.

That's the season I'm in right now.

I'm leading multiple teams, serving coaching clients, working with Wholeness Journey, serving through ministry, showing up in my marriage and friendships, and navigating all of the everyday responsibilities that come with life. None of these things are bad. In fact, most of them are things I've prayed for and genuinely love.

But I've been learning that good things can still become heavy when we're carrying too many of them at once.
And when everything starts to feel like too much, the answer isn't always to become more productive or figure out how to squeeze another thing into the day.

Sometimes the answer is to pause and ask a different question:
What am I actually supposed to carry?

You Were Never Meant to Carry Everything Alone
One of the biggest things I've had to accept in this season is that I cannot do all of this in my own strength.
And I'm not supposed to.
For me, everything starts with getting filled up by God.

John 15 talks about God as the gardener, Jesus as the vine, and us as the branches. A branch doesn't produce fruit by trying harder. It produces fruit by staying connected to the vine.

That picture has become such an important reminder for me because my instinct when life gets overwhelming is to do more. I want to make the list, create the plan, solve the problem, respond to the message, and figure out how everything is going to work.

But there is a difference between taking responsibility and believing that everything depends on you.
When I find myself feeling overwhelmed, I have to come back to the truth that it is not all up to me.

Sometimes that looks like prayer. Sometimes it's journaling, visualizing, meditating on Scripture, or simply sitting quietly long enough to remember who is actually in control.

Before I can figure out what needs to get done, I need to get filled back up.
Because when I'm running on empty, everything feels urgent. Everything feels heavier. Every little problem feels bigger than it actually is.
But when I slow down and reconnect with God, I can start seeing things differently.

I can remember that I don't have to force everything to happen.
I can do my part and trust God with the rest.

Sometimes the First Step Is Getting Everything Out of Your Head
Of course, getting grounded doesn't magically make the list disappear.
There was still a LOT to do.
So once I felt more centered, I grabbed a blank piece of paper and did a brain dump.

I wrote down everything that was taking up space in my head and started separating it into categories: coaching, Wholeness Journey, ministry, home life, relationships, upcoming commitments, and everything else that I had been mentally juggling.
And something about seeing it on paper changed the way I felt.
The responsibilities didn't disappear. But they were no longer all competing for attention inside my head at the same time.

I could actually look at them.
I could separate what was real from what was simply noise.
I could see what had an actual deadline and what didn't.
I could see what needed my attention and what could wait.

Sometimes overwhelm isn't only caused by how much we have to do. It's caused by trying to remember, prioritize, and solve everything simultaneously.

Getting it out of your head gives you the ability to actually look at your life instead of constantly reacting to it.

Not Everything Is Urgent
This was one of the biggest realizations I needed in that moment:
Not everything is for today.

When we're overwhelmed, everything can feel urgent. The email feels urgent. The project feels urgent. The phone call feels urgent. The thing that's due next month somehow starts feeling like it needs to happen before lunch.
But it doesn't.

Some things really do need to happen today. Some things can happen tomorrow. Some things can wait until next week. Some things are months away.
And some things don't need to be done by you at all.

I even used AI to help me sort through my brain dump and identify what actually had deadlines that day versus what could wait. It helped me create some distance from the noise so I could make decisions instead of simply reacting.
One of the things on that list was recording this podcast.

I didn't feel ready.
But I knew it was something only I could do.

So instead of looking at every other thing on my list, I decided to take the next right step.
That's something I'm learning over and over again: you don't have to figure out everything. You just have to figure out what comes next.

What Can Only You Do?
That question has become really important for me:
What can only I do, and what can someone else carry?

I have an assistant, an intern, volunteers, and other people supporting the work I'm doing. They can't record my podcast for me. There are certain things that require my voice, my leadership, my presence, or my decision.

But there are also so many things that don't.

There are things other people can organize, research, prepare, communicate, manage, and move forward.
And sometimes we hold onto those things because we think it's easier to just do them ourselves. Sometimes we don't want to bother someone else. Sometimes we think nobody will do it quite the way we would.

But eventually, you have to ask yourself whether doing everything yourself is actually helping you serve well.

Delegating doesn't mean you stop caring.
It means you're recognizing that your energy is valuable and that your role is not to personally carry every detail.

When I started getting clearer about what only I could do and what someone else could carry, I immediately felt lighter.

Maybe that's a question worth asking yourself too.
What are you carrying right now that someone else could help you carry?

You Don't Have to Do Everything Today
I've also been learning that sometimes what I need isn't a better productivity system.
I need clarity.

When everything feels like too much, I ask myself: What are the three most important things I need to accomplish today?
Not twenty.
Not everything that could possibly get done.
Three.

I've also started organizing my days around different areas of my life and work. I have ministry days, coaching days, Wholeness Journey days, podcast days, and CEO days.

Creating that kind of structure has helped me protect my attention instead of constantly jumping from one area of my life to another.
But I've also learned that structure needs space.

Because sometimes something takes two hours longer than you expected. Sometimes a conversation happens that you didn't plan for. Sometimes a problem comes up. Sometimes you simply need more time.

If every minute of your day is already spoken for, one unexpected thing can make everything feel like a crisis.
Space gives you room to be human.
It gives you room to respond instead of react.
And maybe most importantly, it reminds you that your life doesn't have to fit perfectly into a schedule for you to be doing okay.

Capacity Is Built, Not Proved
I've been thinking a lot about capacity lately.
We sometimes think becoming more capable means proving that we can carry more. We add more responsibilities, take on more projects, say yes to more people, and convince ourselves that if we can just handle it all, we'll finally feel capable.
But I don't think that's what capacity is.

Capacity grows over time.

You take the next step. You follow through. You see that you made progress. You realize everything is okay. Then you do it again.
You learn what you're capable of.
You learn where you need help.
You learn what drains you and what fills you.
You learn what God has actually called you to carry.

And for me, that growth continues to come back to the same foundation: staying connected to God and remembering that I am the vessel.
I don't have to force everything to happen through my own strength.

I don't have to prove that I can do it all.
Maybe real capacity isn't about carrying more.
Maybe it's about becoming wise enough to know what is yours to carry in the first place.

Sometimes the Strongest People Need to Hear "I See You"
A few days before I recorded this episode, someone on one of my leadership teams sent me a message.

She essentially told me:
I see you. I see how much you're carrying. You're supported, and you're not alone.

And I cried.

I wasn't asking for recognition. I wasn't looking for someone to tell me I was doing a good job. But I needed those words more than I realized.
It made me think about how often we assume that the people who are carrying a lot must be okay because they're capable.

They're leaders.
They're dependable.
They're the ones everyone else calls when something needs to get done.

But strong people get tired too.
Leaders get overwhelmed too.
The people who spend so much time encouraging everyone else need encouragement too.
Sometimes they just need someone to say, I see you.

So if someone came to mind while reading this, send them the message.
Tell them you see them.
Tell them you appreciate them.
Remind them they're supported.
You never know how much someone might need to hear that today.

You Don't Have to Solve Your Entire Life Today
I think that's ultimately what I'm learning through this season.
I don't have to solve my entire life today.
I don't have to finish everything.
I don't have to know exactly how every responsibility is going to work out.
I don't have to carry everything simply because I care about everything.
I can pray.
I can get filled up.
I can get the noise out of my head.
I can figure out what's actually urgent.
I can choose what matters most.
I can ask for help.
I can delegate.
I can create space.

And then I can let the rest wait.
Because tomorrow is another day.

There will always be another email.
Another project.
Another responsibility.
Another person who needs something from you.
There will always be something else you could be doing.

But that doesn't mean you need to do it all right now.

Sometimes the most faithful thing you can do is take the next right step and trust God with everything you can't control.
And sometimes the next right step isn't working harder.

Sometimes it's resting.
Sometimes it's going outside.
Sometimes it's laughing with someone you love.
Sometimes it's putting your phone down and being present.
Sometimes it's simply taking a breath and remembering:
It is not all up to me.

If everything feels like too much right now, I hope you give yourself permission to pause.

You don't have to carry tomorrow today.
You don't have to prove that you're capable by exhausting yourself.
You don't have to figure everything out before you can move forward.

Get filled up.
Get clear.

Do what only you can do.
Let someone else carry what they can.
And then take the next right step.

You are allowed to build a full life without carrying the weight of the entire thing alone.

Keep Going With Jess
If this message resonated with you, I'd love to stay connected.
Follow Jess on Instagram: @jessdahl_
Learn more about Jess: jessdahl.com
Listen to Say Yes Anyway: Listen to the podcast
Learn more about Wholeness Journey: wholenessjourney.org

With love,
Jess 

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