We’ve all had nights when we didn’t sleep well or times when we’ve exercised or done manual labor to the point of exhaustion. Most people are familiar with the idea of physical exhaustion. Mental and emotional exhaustion can have the same impact on how well you perform. This form of psychological exhaustion often gets overlooked.
When we talk about a mental load, we’re talking about all the little things our brain is doing on the side. This is the background work our brains do to remember tasks we’ve put on hold and process emotional stress. Let’s look at examples of mental load and how you can manage this invisible labor.
Example of Mental Load
We define mental load as “the effort involved in managing life, relationships, family, and household.” It’s all the little details we manage on auto-pilot, and it includes anything from formal responsibilities to decision-making. Examples of mental load include:
- Remembering birthdays and celebrations
- Anticipating and dealing with daily roadblocks
- Menu planning
- Making shopping lists and doing the shopping
- Scheduling meetings
- Paying bills
- Helping kids with homework
- Taking children to extra-curricular activities
- Bearing the burden of asking for help because a partner or colleague isn’t proactive
How Can You Manage Your Mental Load?
A large mental load can lead to exhaustion, burnout, anxiety, and depression. Unhealthy eating habits, not getting enough water or exercise, and not getting adequate sleep can make the burden even heavier. Here are some ways you can manage your mental load:
Delegate
Doing everything by yourself is a lofty, if unreasonable, goal. Ask yourself two questions about the tasks on your list.
- Does this really need to be done? If so, does it need to be done right now?
- Am I the only person capable of doing this?
We often overburden ourselves by assuming we’re the only person who can control all the situations we orchestrate throughout the day. Ease your mental load by trusting others with tasks. These can be colleagues at work, friends, and family members. A good example of this is asking children to help around the house. Switching a load of laundry, sweeping a room, or doing the dishes are reasonable tasks to delegate.
Self-care
Practice daily self-care. So many of us associate the idea of self-care with a spa day. Sure, that’s a nice thought, but we don’t always have the time, gumption, or finances to do some elaborate, luxurious self-care day. Self-care is often about doing the basics for ourselves, like:
- Sleeping enough
- Eating healthy foods more often than not
- Drinking water
- Taking five minutes just to breathe
- Taking a shower
- Taking your medication
- Putting on clean clothes
If you can make it around to a yoga practice or journaling, that’s great! But don’t minimize the benefits of simple self-care.
Communication
Talking to people about your mental load and the help you need is a major step toward managing your stress. If things at work are getting stressful, raise concerns with your manager or supervisor. It’s their job to help their employees maintain a healthy work-life balance.
If things with your partner feel tense, talk to them about it. Focus on making “I” statements to avoid accusation. Make it a two-way conversation by listening actively to their concerns, too. Communicating about your stressors is one of the best ways to keep things under control.
Seek a therapist
The help of a mental health professional can go a long way toward helping you manage your mental load. Stress management and coping techniques are just a few of the things a professional can help you with. I’m here to help. If you sense you’re managing an underlying condition like anxiety or depression, I can help diagnose and treat those, too.
Please read more about anxiety therapy and reach out soon for a consultation.
