Understanding Why You Feel Out of Control & How to Regain Power

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Sometimes it can feel like you’re completely out of control. You may feel helpless and powerless like the world is spinning too fast and you can’t keep up.

These feelings of being out of control might initially be something that is all imagined. Still, it can lead to you losing control and making mistakes in your personal and professional life.

Getting a hold of life can be difficult, but getting things back on track is essential. With the help of this article, you will hopefully be able to identify why you might feel out of control and then take action to reduce your stress and anxiety.

What Causes Us to Feel Out of Control?

Many different things can cause us to feel out of control in our lives. A lack of self-awareness is one of the more common causes of this. This tends to be where we never take the time to identify what we are capable of and deserve.

Reflecting on past experiences is an excellent way of figuring out what you can comfortably do in your personal and professional life and what you could push yourself outside of your comfort zone.

You should avoid setting unclear goals or putting unfair expectations on yourself, too, as these can quickly make it feel like you are losing your grip on things.

Unhealthy relationships and dependency issues can also make us feel like we lack control, as feeling co-dependent on others will naturally strip away your individuality over time.

You also need to find ways to combat stress overload, as unmanageable stress levels can be highly problematic and may eventually lead to you feeling out of control.

While it might feel like we are helpless in the face of these feelings, several steps can be taken to regain power and control our lives.

Increase Self-Awareness Through Reflection and Journaling

One of the most important steps to regaining power is to gain self-awareness. This can be done through various forms of reflection, such as discussing your concerns with others, journaling, meditation, and mindfulness practices.

Of course, not all of these will work for everyone, and you should consider which ones might work for you and try a few out to see which has the best impact.

Journaling is an excellent option because it will allow you to declutter your mind and detangle your thoughts while committing them to paper. This will enable you to review what you’ve written so that you can reference it later and reflect on these things more quickly.

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Set Meaningful Goals & Establish Healthy Boundaries

Another essential step to regaining power is setting meaningful goals and establishing healthy boundaries. It’s no good giving yourself a goal you’re never going to achieve, as this will demotivate you and make you feel more out of control than before.

You should set goals that are not only achievable but also mean something. Don’t just make a goal to keep you busy. Instead, set a plan to help you improve a skill or drive your career forward, for example.

You’ll also want to establish healthy boundaries in your personal and professional life.

Things like knowing when to say no to a task or understanding when you need to rest and switch off from work. Otherwise, you’ll risk getting overwhelmed, impacting your performance over time.

Practice Responsible Decision-Making Habits

Responsible decision-making is also key to regaining power. This includes learning and practicing habits such as identifying risks, being kind to yourself, reflecting on mistakes, and not overthinking a problem.

Some of these are much easier said than done, but adopting these habits as quickly as possible is essential to begin making much better decisions in your professional life. This will naturally lead to you feeling much more in control as your good decisions start to pay off.

Stick to these habits to avoid falling back into a position where you no longer feel in control.

You can also benefit from using helpful tactics to reduce stress and anxiety, as this will allow you to remain calm and make much more considerate decisions.

Enhance Coping Tools To Reduce Stress Levels

To reduce stress levels and regain power, developing practical coping tools is essential. This can include confiding in friends and loved ones, taking regular breaks, listening to music, or even getting some exercise.

Stress can be hazardous to live with over long periods, leading to mental health problems like depression. Stress can also cause ulcers and other health problems, so it’s a good idea to find suitable coping methods for this and reduce the risks to your health.

Naturally, stress will also increase your chances of feeling out of control, so it benefits your professional life to handle this as effectively as possible.

Why is it Important to Regain control?

It’s important not to feel out of control because it allows you to live a more fulfilling and meaningful life. It helps you develop healthier relationships, make better decisions, and feel better physically and mentally.

As well as impacting your personal life, it can drastically affect your professional life, as being in control allows you to perform much better at work and remain motivated. When you feel out of control in the workplace, you’re much more likely to make mistakes, which can significantly harm your work.

A lack of control can put your friendships and relationships at risk in your personal life. Of course, an at-risk relationship or even a breakup can be highly stressful, too, and so events in our personal life can be the cause of making us feel out of control.

There are ways in which you can handle these life events better, however, such as using useful coping strategies for anxiety after a breakup or making use of the many wellness practices out there.

Key Takeaways: From Chaos to Clarity

The chaos that losing control can bring to our lives should not be taken lightly. It’s important to remember that only one person can take back control of your life, and that is you.

However, with the help of many different tools, such as therapies and the development of healthy habits, it can be much easier to stop yourself from feeling out of control.

Once you no longer feel out of control, you’ll be able to continue using the useful habits you developed to help reduce the chances of this happening in the future or bounce back much faster should your feeling of control ever slip.

FAQs

Why do I feel out of control?

There are many reasons you might feel out of control. You might suffer from an anxiety disorder, have a low level of self-awareness, or you might lack confidence in yourself.
Stress is often one of the biggest causes of making us feel out of control, but it can also be a symptom, so it’s important to identify what is causing you to feel out of control in particular.

What do I do when I feel out of control?

There are a number of things you can do if you feel out of control. These include talking about your problems in therapy, writing a journal, and finding ways to reduce stress, such as practicing mindfulness and meditation.
There isn’t one specific remedy for these feelings, however, so you should strive to find the right one for you.

What does it mean to feel out of control?

Feelings of being out of control can manifest themselves in a few different ways. In some cases, you might feel highly stressed or feel as though you just can’t do anything right, whether in your personal or professional life.
This is generally not a healthy position and should be dealt with as soon as possible.

Can anxiety make you feel out of control?

Anxiety can make you feel out of control, but it can also be a symptom, just as stress can be. If you feel as though your anxiety is making you feel out of control, then your first step would be to identify what causes your anxieties.
A therapist can help with this, and you can also use coping strategies to reduce your anxiety and, in turn, make you feel more in control.