Too many inputs. No crisis. Just a little too much. (AI-Generated Image)

April 18: When You Need Less Input

“Too much sound deafens us; too much light dazzles us.” — Blaise Pascal, Pensées

A Caregiver’s Moment

You’re in the middle of making coffee, a morning pleasure you look forward to for that bit of quiet right before tackling the day. But you’re running a little behind schedule because that extra 20 minutes of sleep was so worth it this morning. You start the dishwasher, turn on the news, wish the road construction noise outside were already finished, and settle into your favorite chair to enjoy your coffee before answering school emails.

Now though, you hear your kid up and moving around, making his way to the kitchen. You close your eyes, hoping he’ll move on, but he turns on the TV in the next room and then in he walks.

He starts asking you a few normal-sounding questions, but your mind goes a little blank. The dishwasher is humming. The TV is playing a little too loudly in the next room. You think of the emails you still need to answer. You see the creamer you didn’t pour in your cup yet.

Nothing is a crisis here, but it’s all just a little too much.

You’re still answering his questions as the minutes tick by, but you can feel the glitch rising, that detached static feeling where you’re still nodding, but your brain has officially left the building.

Then the thought shows up: I should be able to handle this.

And the Judge Saboteur kicks in, making it worse.

Why It Matters

When your system has been working nonstop for a while, the threshold for what feels like too much gets lower and lower.

Sounds get more annoying. Light feels a little harsh or painful. Questions take more and more out of you. Open loops in your head start coming up all at once. Part of this is sensory and part of it is mental, but a lot of it is just oversaturation. Too many little things.

Sometimes things get better with less input, rather than more effort or more action.

That’s the reframe here. Your system has had a lot to sort, and it needs a little less to sort for a little while. You don’t have to take in everything just because it’s there.

When you can feel that glitch rising, don’t force your system to do more. Give it a little less to carry.

Practice: Lessen The Input

When you can feel yourself getting overloaded, just lower the load by one thing and give the moment a little more ease. Don’t try to fix the whole morning. Try one of these:

Use fewer words -Say the shorter version. Let one sentence be enough, because less is usually more.

Lower the volume -Turn something off, mute it, or turn it down two notches. Step out of the room for a minute, if possible.

Dim one light -Dim the lamp. Leave a bright room. Use warm colored light bulbs. Put on sunglasses.

Make one less decision -Repeat a dinner or serve leftovers. Delay any nonessential choice. Let one thing wait.

Give one less explanation -You don’t have to explain every limit in detail while you’re overloaded.

Less can help right away.

Your Turn

What kind of input overloads you fastest?

Too many words? Too much sound? Bright light? Too many decisions? Too much explaining?

Figure out which one gets you first. Then turn that one first, before too many more pile on.

Reminder

Sometimes one less thing is exactly what can help.

Mantra To Carry

Less can be medicine.

Excerpt from Everyday Calm, Everyday Chaos by Michael Harris. Sign up for occasional emails and announcements about this book at www.PraiseForChange.com.