Information Overload: Why I Took a Break and Played With Legos

Lately, the world has felt loud in a way that’s hard to manage. It’s pervasive… and as someone who doesn’t want to just “stick her head in the sand,” I find myself feeling like I’m drinking from a fire hose of information. And it’s constant—on my drive home listening to the radio, in small talk at the store, in the headlines of my emails. It feels like an intensity you can sense beyond what you’re directly reading or hearing. The tricky part is that it isn’t just what I’m actually reading about current events, but also the endless ideas about things I need to change in my personal and business life.

The news, social media, podcasts, newsletters, and endless advice about how to do life better all seem to pile on at once. Even when the information is well-intended, it starts to feel like a constant hum in the background—one that never really shuts off. For many working moms already carrying a heavy mental load, that hum quietly turns into overwhelm.

I didn’t fully realize how much this was affecting me until I opened my email one day and saw just how many unread messages were sitting there. I had been skimming the headlines for months without opening them. There were thousands of unread emails across my numerous accounts. Each one promised answers: how to run a business better, how to parent more intentionally, how to make more money, how to plan meals, how to think more positively. Most of them weren’t “bad,” per se, but together they felt like they were yelling at me. And every time I clicked one open, I felt a familiar tightness in my chest and a sense of falling further behind.

When Information Overload Turns Into Working Mom Overwhelm

What I hadn’t noticed until that moment was how much I had internalized the messages I was skimming in those email headlines meant to grab my attention (which… I have to admit, their marketing was on point…). I felt that if I just kept reading, researching, and learning, I would eventually figure out how to do everything the right way. Instead, what was happening was the opposite. The more information I consumed, the more cluttered my head felt, and the harder it became to actually do anything. What I thought was productivity was slowly turning into paralysis. I was spending less time producing anything, and I felt like my creativity had been sucked from my soul.

How Constant “Helpful” Advice Creates Decision Fatigue

This is a story I hear often from the women I work with through Empowered Focus. So many describe feeling overwhelmed but capable, motivated but stuck. They know there are systems and strategies out there, yet they don’t know where to start. Over time, that indecision becomes exhausting, and the nervous system stays in a constant state of low-grade stress. It’s not a lack of discipline or motivation—it’s mental overload. And honestly, until you find some way to actively stop the fire hose for a bit, you can’t get your head above water long enough to have a creative idea or the motivation to work on a project. Your mind becomes completely cluttered with information—like your internal filing cabinet was knocked over and everything suddenly feels equally important. Your prioritizing skills go out the window.

Declaring Email Bankruptcy and Reducing Digital Overload

So I decided to stop and turn off the fire hose for a bit.

I declared what I jokingly called “email bankruptcy” and deleted every unread message that was more than a month old. I unsubscribed from almost every list, keeping only the ones that genuinely made me feel supported or inspired rather than pressured. Then I closed my computer. I turned off the news, stayed off social media for the day, and did something that felt surprisingly radical: I went to the library and checked out a real book.

The book was The Artist’s Way, which has been around for years, long before content calendars, productivity hacks, and personalized AI bots. As I started reading, I found myself wondering why we hesitate to see ourselves as creative unless we have a very specific label. If you write, if you build ideas, if you imagine new ways of doing things and want to share them—aren’t you creating something? I decided that yes, that counts.

Why Creativity Helps Reset a Burned-Out Brain

What struck me most as I read was how much time I had been spending telling myself what I should be doing, and how little time I had been actually doing anything that felt meaningful or grounding. I put the book down and did something completely different. I pulled out a watercolor book my husband had given me for Christmas and started painting, without a goal or an outcome in mind. Later that day, I finished an epic LEGO Botanical Garden set—purely for the joy of it. And I did this right smack in the middle of the day when I “should” have been working on this very business.

None of it was efficient. None of it moved a project forward. And yet, it was exactly what my brain needed. I felt like I had dusted my brain off. While I was painting, I noticed great ideas for workshops and blog posts flooding my mind, rather than the dread that I wasn’t doing enough to make my businesses successful.

When Slowing Down Brings Mental Clarity Back

When I eventually returned to my email, the urgency was gone. The messages were still there, but they no longer felt like demands. Now, when I go to my inbox, I not only delete what isn’t serving me, but I also unsubscribe to try to keep the clutter from returning. I cleaned my digital house, which allowed me—for a few moments—to feel like I could actually filter the information coming into my life. That I don’t have to feel flooded all of the time.

I could see more clearly that there is no single right way to do things, and that doing everything at once is not a requirement for being competent or successful. Slowing down gave me perspective, and perspective gave me choice.

When the world feels heavy or chaotic, it’s okay to turn down the input for a while. It’s okay to step away from the constant stream of advice and do something that feeds your soul and gives your mind room to wander. Creativity, clarity, and problem-solving don’t come from running at full speed all the time. They come from space. They come from quiet, boredom, and setting aside your endless to-do list.

If you’re feeling burned out, mentally cluttered, or stuck in a cycle of information overload, consider this a gentle invitation to pause. Delete the emails. Close the apps. Pick up something tactile and absorbing—a book, a brush, a puzzle, a LEGO set—and let your brain rest. You might be surprised by how much easier it feels to come back once you do.

A Real Live Person Is Here to Help…

If you’re feeling stretched thin right now, remember: you don’t have to figure it out alone. We’re here to give you the tools and support you need to reset and thrive any time of year. We offer new programs regularly that are designed to help. With supportive coaching and plenty of practical advice, Empowered Focus is here to the be your shoulder to lean on.

While Dr. Liz is a licensed psychologist, the information provided by Empowered Focus, LLC is intended solely for educational and informational purposes. Services offered and any materials provided by Empowered Focus, LLC are NOT a substitute for mental health therapy and do NOT establish a psychologist-patient relationship. Individuals seeking mental health therapy or clinical support should contact a qualified mental health professional in their area. A helpful directory for locating licensed providers in your area can be found at Psychology Today.