the.com/overwhelm
the brain's way of mistaking a long to-do list for an actual emergency
means To bury or overpower someone completely, whether by water, force, or sheer quantity of demands.
from From Middle English 'whelmen,' to turn upside down or capsize — the image of a boat flipping and being swallowed by water. Add the intensifying 'over-' and you get 'overwhelm': to engulf utterly, to cover over as a flood covers a field. The word began literal and wet before it drifted inward to describe being drowned by feelings, work, or noise.
old meaningoriginally meant to capsize or bury under water
brain hijackamygdala floods logic centers, freezing decision-making
narrow focusstress shrinks attention to a survival tunnel
task paralysistoo many choices can stall action entirely