Recently, I hit a wall.

Not a wall of burnout, but a wall where I couldn’t take any more stress for the day.

I was at my limit emotionally, relationally, mentally, physically.

I was short with everyone around me; nothing made me happy.

Can you relate?

I was spiraling. At least, that’s what we call it.

For me, this happens when I feel like I am carrying a tremendous load, when the weight of the world is on my shoulders. When I’m not processing my emotions well or when I’m not handling criticism well, I feel tired. It can also happen when life feels out of control, or I don’t think I’m being appreciated in life.

For you, it might be something different. It might be criticism, being taken advantage of, someone doing the same thing again and again.

All of us have it. All of us have a limit. All of us have a thing that we will spiral when those things perfectly align in our day or week.

But what happens next is very important.

If we aren’t careful, we will continue to spiral; we will push people away, make things more complicated or worse.

What do you do when you spiral? How do you handle it? How do you stop it?

Here are a few things that I’ve learned and practice when this happens to me:

Get outside and move. When this happened recently, we went for a long walk as a family. It’s essential to get outside and move—our place, our surroundings matter in our moods and how we handle things. Often, we need to get up from our desks, walk away from our phones and emails, and get some new perspective or take a deep breath.

Get some food or take a nap. When Elijah spirals in scripture, God tells him to eat some food and take a nap (1 Kings 19:5 – 18). It is incredible how much better I feel about life, the stress I’m facing, difficult decisions, or conversations that lay ahead, simply by taking a nap or eating some food. 

Another helpful note here is to wait on responding to people until you get to sleep through the night. This will save you from having to apologize for how you acted and reacted in this situation. 

Talk it out with someone to get some perspective. This can be your spouse or a friend, but someone who will listen, empathize with you and then give you perspective. That perspective may help you find a way forward or push you to see your fault in the situation. 

Someone else’s perspective is beneficial when you spiral, even to get someone to help carry the load and pray for you. 

Be honest with yourself about what is going on and how big of a deal it is. The reality is, when we spiral, the world won’t end. But, what causes us to spiral aren’t huge deals but speed bumps in the road. So, be honest about what you are facing and how big of a deal it is. My guess, if it’s anything like my spirals, it isn’t a big deal. It is in the moment, but in the grand scheme of things, it isn’t.