I was struck yesterday by a feeling of mental paralysis. It was the middle of a busy workday and I’d just left a lunch meeting. I was considering how best to spend the remainder of the day, wondering how I would be most productive. My mind was sorting through my enormous to-do list and suddenly I felt like I couldn’t breathe. My throat felt tight, as if I was being strangled and every muscle in my body tensed up. My mind was a tornado of thoughts wondering what was going on, how to fix it, who to reach out to, when it would stop and why it was happening. All I wanted was to disappear, to crawl under some heavy covers and block out the world so that maybe I could find some peace.
When I was trying to describe it to my husband later all I could say what that I felt overwhelmed—there was just too much of everything. Too much to do, too much to think about, too many noises to block out so I hear my own thoughts, too many responsibilities, too many people counting on me, too many things to keep track of, too many choices.
If you Google “overwhelm” you get a harrowing definition.
· To bury or drown beneath a huge mass
· To defeat completely
· To give too much of a thing to someone
This is a pretty accurate description of my feelings! I don’t feel “defeated completely” but I certainly feel like the world is too much right now and that I’m buried beneath a huge mass.
And that huge mass is…information.
Turns out, this is a real thing. Information overload is also known as infobesity, infoxication, information anxiety and information explosion.
We live in a world where information is constantly coming at us. Getting information is no longer a problem. It’s discerning which information is the right information.
Information overload (or all of those terms listed above) is a result of being unable to manage or sort through mountains of information in order to make a good decision.
When there’s too much information, it can turn into chaos and noise, which can lead to feeling like we’ve lost control.
When we are in control of our surroundings (or at least have the illusion of being in control) we feel safe. When we feel we have lost control, we feel vulnerable and threatened. This can trigger a cascade of mental and physical responses--panic attacks, mental shutdown, drug abuse, losing your sh!* on your spouse or kids, etc.
Social media, the news media, the increase of virtual engagement, the pandemic—the fear of uncertainty and cultural changes it’s brought—is overwhelming and has intensified the last twelve months exponentially.
Technology has advanced so rapidly that our human minds are freaking out.
In a recent study released by McKinsey & Company, about how Covid-19 is changing our lives, digital advancements have covered a “decade in days.”
Online Deliveries – Advanced 10 years in 8 weeks
Telemedicine – 10x in 15 days
Video Conferencing – 20x the participants in 3 months
Online Entertainment – 7 years in 5 months (it took Disney Plus 5 months to achieve what it took Netflix 7 years)
And here’s the most important part. It’s not going to slow down. This acceleration of digital advancement and the colossal amounts of information that’s heaped upon our minds daily is not going to change. If anything, trends say it will increase.
So how do we keep our sanity?
The truth…I don’t freakin’ know.
No one does! But I do have three little ideas that don’t
involve a major life shift.
1. Sit
Just sit your bottom in one place and don’t move. Position yourself in front of a window where you can see a tree blowing in the wind, or a lake or the clouds floating across the sky. Better yet, sit down outside with your feet on the earth or your back against a tree. Just sit. And for God’s sake don’t bring your damn cell phone.
2. Do Some Yoga
This one should not come as a surprise and if you’re reading this, then you probably know me and this one needs no explanation. But…just FYI…one hour of yoga is an hour of mental focus, an hour of breath/moving meditation, an hour away from your phone, an hour of peace, an hour of “you” time.
3. Put Limits On Your Apps
Outside of my marketing job, I have a 30-minute daily time limit on Facebook and Instagram on my phone. I still get info overload just by scrolling but it’s pretty nice when I get that reminder that my time is up.
So what do you think? Are you overwhelmed? Does information overload affect you at all? How do you stay sane? (Asking for a friend!)
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