What to do when you feel overwhelmed and can't switch off | Dr Julie Smith
The Doctor's Kitchen Podcast
Dr Rupy Aujla
4.7 • 2.7K Ratings
🗓️ 6 May 2026
⏱️ 78 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In this episode, we're building an emotional toolkit for something a lot of us are dealing with: overwhelm.
That feeling of too much coming at you at once. The pressure to get everything right with your health, your work, your relationships and still feel like you're just about keeping your head above water.
If you've ever struggled to switch off at night, felt constantly on edge or caught yourself spiralling in your own thoughts, this is for you.
Today's guest: Dr Julie Smith 🧠
Dr Julie (@drjulie on Instagram) is a clinical psychologist and one of the most trusted voices in mental health online. Her latest book “Open When” is one of the best tools I've come across for navigating the harder moments in life. It went straight to number one and is a New York Times Bestseller.
We cover:
- What overwhelm feels like
- Early warning signs you’re at full capacity
- Social media, comparison and people pleasing
- The inner critic and how to change that voice
- Simple tools to regulate emotions in real time
- How to create space for your brain in a noisy world
You'll come away with a few simple tools you can use straight away. I hope you enjoy this one as much as I did.
If you're more of a visual person, the analogy Dr Julie shows us on YouTube is one I won't forget 👇
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | I'm Dr. Rupi and on this show, I help you feel more in control of your health through food and lifestyle medicine. |
| 0:09.2 | Today we're going to build an emotional toolkit together for a challenge that many people face. |
| 0:15.5 | Overwhelmed. The feeling of so many things coming at you at once. The immense pressure of responsibilities and expectations |
| 0:22.0 | set by ourselves and perhaps other people that can manifest in our day to day as irritability |
| 0:28.7 | or a sensation of just about keeping yourself above water. There's no one else I'd rather |
| 0:34.5 | have a conversation with about this than Dr. Julie, a clinical |
| 0:39.2 | psychologist, author of the million copy bestselling Why Has Nobody Told Me This, and Open When, |
| 0:45.4 | who's devoted her career to learning everything possible about the intricacies of the human mind. |
| 0:51.8 | You'll learn today how to spot the signs when overwhelm shows up in your life, |
| 0:56.6 | what creates overwhelm, and how to reframe it with simple daily practices to expand your |
| 1:03.4 | capacity and deal with whatever life throws at you. And if you're more of a visual person, |
| 1:08.4 | the analogy that Dr. Julie shows us on YouTube is one |
| 1:12.2 | that I will never forget. |
| 1:18.8 | Dr. Julie, how do you explain what's happening when people feel overwhelmed? |
| 1:24.3 | People are probably wondering why I've got a sponge here. |
| 1:26.2 | Yeah. |
| 1:26.7 | So if anyone's not visually watching this, I've got a sponge here. Yeah. So if anyone's not |
| 1:27.8 | visually watching this, I've got a sponge in my hand. And if you imagine that you're the sponge and the water is all the demands that life throws at you. And that comes thick and fast all the time, right? There's always things that I'm going to try not to ruin this studio. Go for it. You go for it. |
| 1:44.4 | So if you imagine all those demands come at you. |
| 1:47.1 | And most of the time, you can just observe... There's always things that I'm going to try not to ruin the studio. That's all right. Go for it. You go for it. |
| 1:45.0 | So if you imagine all those demands come at you and most of the time you can just absorb that, right? |
| 1:49.0 | Yeah. |
... |
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