Mental Load: Why Does it Matter and How to Reduce the Burden?

Have you ever come across the term "mental load"? Even if you haven’t, chances are you've experienced its weight at least once in your life. This concept delves into the realm of invisible labor, shedding light on the immense effort required to manage not only your household and career, but also the intricacies of family life.

From scheduling doctor appointments to walking the dog, from preparing dinner to assisting your children with their homework, the scope of everyday responsibilities seems to stretch endlessly before you.

Why Does Mental Load Matter?

Mental load goes beyond physical tasks themselves and encompasses the mental energy it takes to juggle and prioritize them all.

Mental load is the mental acrobatics required to keep everything running smoothly. It's the constant calculation of who needs what, when and where. It's the strain of keeping track of deadlines, appointments, and obligations, and the emotional labor of anticipating the needs and desires of your loved ones.

The mental load often goes unnoticed and unappreciated, by both other members of the household and society itself. This invisible responsibility can cause burnout and emotional exhaustion, leading people to lack motivation, feel more anxious and even have problems sleeping.

It’s important to recognize the significance of the invisible labor you undertake, and remember that you are not alone in shouldering this weight. Mental load is an integral part of the modern human experience, and by understanding and empathizing with it, we can collectively work towards alleviating its burden.

Here are three tips to deal with mental load and decrease it to carry out a simpler lifestyle.

1. Put Mental Load into Words

One of the first steps to addressing the invisible burden of mental load is to articulate that it’s even happening. It can be helpful to start to list out all of the things floating around in your head, to enable yourself to process the weight of it on your own, and begin to open up and have conversations about it.

Take a moment to just put it all on the table in a messy format. Then start to shape it into a list of specific changes or adjustments you need. Consider both your professional and personal spheres. Identify areas where you feel overwhelmed or unsupported, and brainstorm potential solutions. This list can serve as a roadmap for implementing tangible modifications that alleviate the burden of mental labor.

Next, find a suitable time and place to have an open and honest discussion about your experiences with mental load. Whether it's with your partner, family members, or colleagues, express how this invisible burden affects you and the challenges you face, creating an opportunity for others to empathize with your perspective. See if you can come up with ideas to manage it better together, or at the very least, make the invisible work a bit more visible.

2. Learn to Delegate

When it comes to managing our workload and reducing the mental load we carry, it's crucial to recognize that we don't have to do everything ourselves. Often, we find ourselves overwhelmed with numerous tasks and the desire to control every aspect of our activities.

We can decrease our mental load and create healthier, more balanced life by taking a step back and asking these two important questions:

• How important is it to do this work right now?

• Am I the only one who can do this task?

Often, we underestimate the capabilities and capacities of those around us. By acknowledging that we don't have to shoulder every responsibility alone, we open ourselves up to the power of delegation.

Delegating tasks to colleagues, family members, or trusted individuals not only lightens our mental load but also empowers others to contribute and grow. This collaborative approach fosters a sense of shared responsibility and enables us to build a support system that can alleviate the weight of our workload.

3. Improve Your Communication

Effective communication plays a crucial role in enhancing both professional and personal relationships, as well as managing the burdensome weight of mental load. In order to foster healthy connections and ensure a harmonious distribution of responsibilities, it is imperative to invest time and effort into open and honest conversations.

Discussing and strategizing about the tasks that need to be accomplished allows for effective delegation and balancing of responsibilities. By openly communicating about individual strengths, weaknesses, and availability, individuals can allocate tasks in a way that maximizes efficiency and minimizes stress.

This not only lightens the load for everyone involved but also fosters a sense of fairness and shared accountability.

How can 3rd Brain Help You with Your Mental Load?

Outsource to a brain that never forgets. 3rd Brain is an AI-powered productivity app designed to help couples capture, organize, and share the load of daily life with the help of Bo, an AI assistant.

Offload the information: With a simple stream-of-consciousness brain dump, akin to journaling your thoughts, 3rd Brain can capture the swirl in your head and organize it into tasks for you and your partner to tackle later, and notes to store long-term.

Surface the invisible work: Visibility and gratitude alone can go a long way reducing resentment. One step better, having a shared task list and notes database with your partner makes it easier for each party to know what needs to be done and support each other when your plates overflow.

Grow as a team: Gone are the days of feeling overwhelmed and isolated in the face of countless obligations. With an effective shared communication channel, you can share your thoughts, delegate tasks, and effectively balance the responsibilities that come with managing a household.

In a world where mental load can often feel suffocating and all-consuming, it is time to take a stand and embrace a simpler, happier life. Offload the noise onto 3rd Brain and free up precious mental space and experience a newfound sense of clarity and peace.

Do you want to know more? Sign up for the 3rd Brain newsletter, and join the waitlist to try the app’s beta edition!