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 meaning
- originally meant to capsize or bury under water
- brain hijack
- amygdala floods logic centers, freezing decision-making
- narrow focus
- stress shrinks attention to a survival tunnel
- task paralysis
- too many choices can stall action entirely
battle of the somme — 1.2 million casualties overwhelmed both british and french forces in 1916
refugee crisis greece 2015 — lesbos island overwhelmed by 850,000+ syrian and afghan arrivals in single year
hurricane katrina new orleans — category 5 storm overwhelmed levee system, flooding 80% of city in 2005