WHEN YOUR BRAIN HAS BEEN CARRYING TOO MUCH
“Sometimes the answer isn't about trying harder. It's about understanding what your brain and nervous system have been carrying.”
— Katie Packwood
Introduction
What happens when being overwhelmed becomes your normal?
You may still get through your day. You go to work, take care of your family, meet deadlines, and keep moving forward. But underneath it all, you may notice that you're more easily frustrated, emotionally drained, unable to switch off, or simply not feeling like yourself.
In May 2024, Katie Packwood joined Alison Dean on The Dean's List for a conversation about neurofeedback, stress, trauma, emotional regulation, and brain health.
Although this conversation was originally published in 2024, many of the questions Katie explored remain just as relevant today: What happens when the brain has been under too much stress? Why can we understand something intellectually but still struggle to respond differently? And what does it mean to build greater resilience?
Katie's own journey into neurofeedback began with her personal search for better health and eventually led her to explore the relationship between physical well-being, stress, emotional experiences, and brain function. The conversation also explores her experiences working with children and adults and the changes she has witnessed in their everyday lives.
Rather than simply asking, “What symptom needs to be fixed?”, Katie encourages a broader look at the brain and nervous system behind what we're experiencing.
Here are several ideas from that conversation that are worth revisiting.
Featured Interview
A 2024 Conversation with Katie Packwood
Episode Details:
Episode:Overworked? Overwhelmed? Here's How to Rewire Your Brain
Host: Alison Dean
Guest: Katie Packwood
Originally published: May 14, 2024
Season: 1, Episode 4
Length: 56:48
Listen to the episode on Buzzsprout
On May 14, 2024, Katie Packwood joined Alison Dean for Episode 4 of The Dean's List. The 56-minute conversation explores Katie's personal health journey, neurofeedback, stress and trauma, emotional regulation, client experiences, and her vision for the future of brain health.
1. Being Overwhelmed Isn't Always About Having Too Much to Do
We often use the word overwhelmed to describe a busy schedule.
But overwhelm can be more complicated than simply having too many tasks.
When the brain and nervous system are continually responding to stress, it can become harder to feel calm, focused, present, or emotionally steady.
Someone can look perfectly functional on the outside while internally feeling like they're constantly running on empty.
Understanding this distinction can change the question from:
“Why can't I handle everything?”
to:
“What has my brain been responding to?”
That shift can be an important first step toward understanding yourself with more compassion.
2. Stress Doesn't Always Stay Where It Started
One of the more meaningful parts of Katie's journey is the connection she discovered between different aspects of her health.
The episode discusses Katie's own health struggles and how her search for answers eventually led her deeper into wellness, nutritional therapy, and neurofeedback.
Our brains and bodies don't function as completely separate systems.
Stress can influence how we sleep, concentrate, regulate emotions, and experience our daily lives.
This doesn't mean every physical symptom is caused by stress.
Instead, it reminds us that whole-person health matters.
Sometimes, understanding one part of the picture requires looking at the bigger picture.
3. You Can Understand Something Without Being Able to Regulate It
Have you ever known exactly what you should do but still found yourself reacting differently?
You know you should stay calm.
You know you shouldn't overthink.
You know the situation isn't worth getting upset about.
And yet your body and emotions react before you have time to process what is happening.
This is one reason nervous-system regulation matters.
Knowing something intellectually isn't always the same as having the capacity to respond differently in the moment.
The goal isn't to stop having emotions or difficult reactions.
It's about creating more space between what happens and how we respond.
That space can make a difference in how we communicate, make decisions, handle stress, and move through difficult situations.
4. Looking Beyond the Symptom Can Change the Conversation
A person might seek support because they're struggling with focus.
Another person may be having difficulty sleeping.
Someone else may feel constantly stressed or emotionally overwhelmed.
These concerns can look completely different on the surface.
But Katie's approach encourages looking beyond an individual symptom and considering the larger picture of brain and nervous-system function.
The podcast specifically discusses moving beyond symptom management and exploring the effects of stress and trauma on the nervous system.
This doesn't mean assuming that every symptom has one underlying cause.
It means asking a broader question:
What is happening within the whole person?
5. Real Change Can Show Up in Everyday Moments
Some of the most meaningful changes aren't necessarily dramatic.
They can be small moments:
Pausing before reacting
Being able to concentrate during a conversation
Recovering more quickly after a stressful event
Feeling more present with your family
Handling a difficult situation without becoming completely overwhelmed
Feeling more capable of managing everyday responsibilities
Katie discusses working with a diverse range of clients, including children and adults, and shares stories of changes that have affected their everyday lives.
These moments matter because brain health isn't only about what happens during a training session.
It's about how we function in real life.
6. Resilience Doesn't Mean Never Getting Stressed
Being resilient doesn't mean becoming someone who never feels anxious, frustrated, tired, or overwhelmed.
Life will still be stressful.
Unexpected things will still happen.
There will still be difficult conversations, demanding seasons, and days when everything feels like too much.
Resilience is more about what happens after the stress.
Can you recover?
Can you regulate?
Can you return to a sense of balance?
Can you move forward instead of remaining stuck in the reaction?
This is a much more compassionate definition of resilience than expecting ourselves to remain calm all the time.
7. Brain Health Is About More Than Fixing What's Wrong
Perhaps one of the biggest takeaways from Katie's conversation is that brain health doesn't have to begin with something being “wrong.”
It can begin with curiosity.
How does my brain respond to stress?
Why do certain situations affect me so strongly?
What helps me feel regulated?
How can I build greater resilience?
Neurofeedback is one approach Katie uses in her work to help people train brain function. The episode describes her work with both children and adults and her broader goal of helping more people understand the possibilities of neurofeedback.
The bigger idea is empowerment.
Understanding your brain can be the beginning of becoming more intentional about how you support it.
Final Thoughts
Being overworked or overwhelmed doesn't mean you're weak.
And struggling to regulate your emotions doesn't mean you're failing.
Sometimes, the brain has simply been adapting to a lot.
Stress. Responsibility. Pressure. Difficult experiences. Constant stimulation. Lack of recovery.
Understanding that can create a different starting point—one based not on judgment, but on curiosity and support.
Katie Packwood's 2024 conversation with Alison Dean is ultimately an invitation to look deeper: beyond symptoms, beyond quick fixes, and toward a better understanding of the brain and nervous system.
And although the interview was recorded in 2024, the questions it raises remain relevant:
How are we caring for our brains?
How are we responding to stress?
And what could change if we understood ourselves a little better?
Brain health isn't simply about fixing what's wrong.
It's also about giving ourselves the opportunity to function, adapt, recover, and thrive.
Listen to the Full Conversation
Want to hear Katie discuss her personal journey, neurofeedback, stress, trauma, client experiences, and her vision for the future of brain health?
Overworked? Overwhelmed? Here's How to Rewire Your Brain
Originally published May 14, 2024
