How to lighten your mental load

9 ways to make life a little less complicated

My life has a lot of moving parts. I’m sure yours does to. If you’re overseeing multiple projects at work, raising kids or taking care of other family members (or both!), or running things in your community, you can feel like life is consumed by remembering tasks.

“Mental load” is the cognitive and emotional effort it takes to manage life. It is real work and it can feel overwhelming, especially if you are the person in a family managing most of the home front. But it also doesn’t have to feel overwhelming. Here are my favorite strategies for lightening my mental load, so there’s time for deep work and fun.