Spring Cleaning Your Mental Load

Spring is often seen as a time for fresh starts. But while we’re cleaning out cupboards, opening the windows and getting our homes back in order, there’s another space that can become pretty cluttered too — our minds.

Mental load is all the invisible thinking, remembering, planning and worrying that happens in the background of everyday life.

It’s remembering that appointment you need to make. The message you still haven’t replied to. What’s for dinner. The bill that needs paying. Something happening at work. Whether everyone around you is okay. The thing you said three days ago that you’re still thinking about. The plans you need to organise next month.

Individually, these things might seem small. But when enough of them pile up, they can leave us feeling overwhelmed, irritable, exhausted or like our brain simply never switches off.

So, as we head into spring, maybe it’s worth doing a different kind of spring clean.

Not one focused on becoming more productive or completely reinventing yourself — but one that creates a little more space in your head.

Start by getting it out of your head

When you’re carrying dozens of little reminders around mentally, your brain is constantly trying not to forget something.

Try doing a complete brain dump.

Write down everything that's currently taking up space — appointments, jobs around the house, things you're worried about, conversations you need to have, people you need to contact and decisions you've been putting off.

You don't need to organise or fix any of it straight away.

Sometimes simply seeing everything in one place can help turn “I have a million things to do” into something much more manageable.

Ask yourself: does this actually belong to me?

Not everything we carry is ours to carry.

Sometimes our mental load includes worrying about other people's choices, trying to keep everyone happy, feeling responsible for how someone else feels, or saying yes to things because saying no makes us uncomfortable.

Take a look at what's weighing on you and ask:

• Is this something I can control?

• Is this actually my responsibility?

• Am I carrying this because I need to — or because I feel guilty putting it down?

Caring about people doesn't mean you have to take responsibility for everything happening around you.

Sometimes clearing our mental load means recognising where our responsibility ends.

Close one open loop

You know those tiny jobs that somehow follow you around for weeks?

Booking the appointment. Returning something. Sending the email. Filling out the form.

Making the phone call.

The actual task might take ten minutes, but thinking “I really need to do that” twenty times

can take up far more energy.

Pick one.

Not the entire list.

Just one thing you can finish, organise or make a decision about.

Small actions can create surprisingly big feelings of relief.

Build routines that make life easier

Healthy routines aren't about having the perfect morning routine, waking up at 5am or completely changing your life overnight.

At their best, routines simply reduce the number of decisions your brain has to make.

That might look like preparing your lunch the night before, keeping important things in the same place, having a regular grocery day, going for a walk after work, putting your phone away before bed or spending ten minutes resetting the house before you go to sleep.

You can also try habit stacking — attaching a new habit to something you already do.

For example:

After I make my morning coffee, I'll sit outside for five minutes.

After I brush my teeth at night, I'll put my phone on charge.

When I get home from work, I'll change my clothes and go for a ten-minute walk.

Start small. A healthy routine should support your life, not become another expectation you're failing to meet.

And when you fall out of routine — because eventually we all do — you haven't failed.

You simply start again.

Make room for things that don't need to be productive

Sometimes when life gets busy, the first things we remove are the things we do purely because we enjoy them.

Seeing friends. Reading. Going to the beach. Walking the dog. Sitting outside. Being creative. Resting without simultaneously folding washing or answering emails.

But these aren't wasted parts of our day.

We aren't machines designed to be productive every waking minute.

Creating space in your mental load also means creating space for the parts of life that help you feel connected, rested and like yourself.

You don't have to clear everything at once

If your mind feels cluttered right now, you don't need to completely overhaul your life this spring.

Choose one thing.

Write down what's been circling around in your head.

Set one boundary.

Finish one small task.

Introduce one routine that makes tomorrow a little easier.

Or give yourself permission to put something down.

And if your mental load has become so heavy that you're constantly overwhelmed, struggling to switch off or feeling like you're just trying to keep your head above water, you don't have to work through it alone.

Counselling can provide a space to unpack what's happening, understand what's contributing to the overwhelm and find practical ways forward that actually fit your life.

This spring, maybe the goal isn't to become a newer, better or more productive version of yourself.

Maybe it's simply about putting down a few things you've been carrying for too long and making a little more room for you.

— Kell Butler Founder of Worthy Beings