The Lazy Genius Podcast - #427 - When You’re Overwhelmed by the World

Episode Date: July 21, 2025

On the average day, we’re already at least a little bit overwhelmed by our personal problems, and what I’m going to share today will actually apply to that pretty effectively. But what about when we’re dealing with the world at large, with the news and the onslaught of information and the desire to do what we can? I want to take our tried and true thirteen Lazy Genius principles and apply them to being overwhelmed by the world. Helpful Companion Links Order my new book The PLAN or ask your library to consider carrying a copy. @emilyinyourphone on Instagram Share your thoughts with us via our 2025 Listener Survey! Sign up for the Latest Lazy Listens email. Grab a copy of my book The Lazy Genius Kitchen or The Lazy Genius Way! (Affiliate links) Download a transcript of this episode. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey there, you're listening to the Lazy Genius Podcast. I'm Kendra Adachi and I'm here to help you be a genius about the things that matter and lazy about the things that don't. Today is episode 427 when you're overwhelmed by the world. We had a different topic scheduled for today, but I felt like we needed to put something in the feed that spoke to the sense of paralysis and overwhelmed that many of you are feeling right now. On the average day, we're already at least like a little bit overwhelmed. by our personal problems, just like regular life. And what I'm going to share today, it will actually apply to that pretty effectively. But what about when we're dealing with the world at large, with the news and the onslaught of information and the desire to do what we can to make the world kinder, better, and more equitable for everyone? We're all in a gauntlet of overwhelm and news and worry and tricky conversations and trying to figure out how to use the limited resources that we individually have to make as much of a difference as possible. Like it all feels like it's either too much or not enough. So today, I want to take our tried and

true 13 lazy genius principles and apply them to being overwhelmed by the world. I often get asked how to lazy genius the news or how to lazy genius being paralyzed by everything. And today's episode is my answer to that question. Now, I'm going to reference all 13 lazy genius principles today. Does that mean you need to do all of them? Absolutely not. We don't need to add to the overwhelm from the world with overwhelmed from a podcast episode. So don't be deterred by the list of 13 things. It's not 13 things to do. It's 13 things that might have one thing in them that you would like to try. If you are an OG student of lazy genius things, you will recognize that we are going out of order of how these 13 principles are presented in the book, The Lazy Genius

Way, but that's okay. I've set them up in a certain order to kind of tell a story here. Okay, so the first principle I want us to consider is schedule rest. Part of the reason we're overwhelmed by the world is because the news and the need never stop. The onslaught is always coming, right? We know this. That constancy will not rest. So that means we have to. You might need to schedule rest from the overwhelm of the world. Now let me go ahead and speak to the very real and true rebuttal to that suggestion. I've heard people say that it's a privileged thing to be able to rest, and I agree with that. But that doesn't mean it isn't a valuable choice.

Everyone should be able to rest from hard work, from a heavy mental load, and from the news. Everyone should be able to do that. Not everyone does or can, and that is deeply unfortunate and unfair. But if you have the ability, I think making that choice matters. You know, burnout is real. And folks involved in all kinds of resistance movements over the years, rest. If you're a Christian like I am and you believe in Jesus, Jesus rested. Jesus came to save the actual world and still took time away to rest and pray and move this friends.

So while I agree that being able to rest is a privilege, everyone should have it. So if you have the ability to rest, I encourage you to take it. Now, for the scheduling part of schedule rest, I almost, this is going to sound weird? I almost look at it like leg day, you know? Like you're not supposed to work the same muscle groups two days in a row. Your muscles need to recover and rebuild. And I think the same could be said for interacting with the overwhelm of the world. Do you want to hear something kind of wild?

I don't listen to the news two days in a row. I legit treat it like leg day. I still get the news. I hear what's going on, but I don't put myself in the position to get overwhelmed by it every single day because I can't withstand that kind of weariness. I need to rest from it so that I can be more equipped and ready to engage in the news the next day. The news isn't going anywhere. So I can schedule my rest from it, even if it's just for one day.

No, you don't have to do what I do. You don't even have to agree with that. That's okay, too. But as we begin going through these principles, I think this is a really important one to start with. You cannot exist in a constant news cycle without paying a price. So the alternative is to schedule rest away from it. That can be whatever you need it to be, at whatever frequency in whatever way. But when you're overwhelmed by the world, consider scheduling rest. The next principle, go in the right order. This can apply to a million things in life, but when it comes to being overwhelmed by the world, paying attention to the right order for you, it really could be super helpful.

Notice what you do, for example, when you wake up. What is your usual morning order? You might notice that the news is front and center, and maybe that's not the best placement for it. So maybe tomorrow you try your morning and a different order. You begin your day in a different order and news doesn't come until later. Maybe you have an order of where you get your news so that you're keeping bias and slant out of what you consume as early as possible in the news story. Maybe you have an order of how you

respond to news that moves you to action. You know, you always think before you speak or you always process with a trusted friend when a news item feels complicated. Or you always pray before you you donate or you always take a deep breath before you call your reps. There are a ton of ways where going in the right order could come into play and only you know what that value is for you. But pay attention to when the frequency of the overwhelm feels so high and see if there is something that is out of order that's contributing to it. Go in the right order. Next up, build the right routines. This might be huge for you when it comes to the news. What is your news routine?

You can't necessarily control how you're going to feel after you read the news, but you can certainly control the environment, the order, like we just said, and even the mindset you have as you engage with it. What might your days look like if you had a news routine? By creating a news routine on purpose, you're more in the driver's seat. You know, you're not at the mercy of an algorithm or of a breaking news alert. That is, it's not so much about news that's breaking, but more about the currency of attention. Don't feel like you have to do this or even do this one right away.

Just notice if maybe a particular routine might help you before you read the news or even after you read it, what's your news routine? Spending time thinking about that and might really help you in your particular experience with overwhelmed from the world. Welcome aboard via rail. Please sit and enjoy. Please sit and stretch. Steep. Or that and enjoy. Via Rail, love the way. Aw isn't something we need to travel for. It's something waiting for us in everyday life, whether in a city street or a moment with a work of art.

I'm Dacher Keltner, host of the Science of Happiness podcast. Join me for Cities of Aw, a special series on how our public spaces can spark awe, wonder, and enhance the quality of public. public life. You can find us wherever you listen to your podcasts. All right. Next up, ask the magic question. What can you do now to make the overwhelm easier later? Again, lots of options here that you might enjoy considering. You can do what Emily in your phone calls Save All Six, which is to save the six numbers of your representatives

into your phone so that you don't have to look them up every time. You have three members of Congress that represent you, and they each have a local office and a D.C. office. So that's six numbers. Emily has a pinned carousel on her Instagram account at Emily in your phone that you can check out. But I think that's a great way to make calling your repsies year later. You save all six numbers into your phone. And what's really great is that even if you get a new actual person, like a new actual representative, the numbers stay the same. Another way you can apply the magic question to the overwhelm of the world is to unsubscribe from news emails. We just talked about a news routine.

A primary purpose of that routine is for you to be in control of when and how you receive the news, which means that getting alerts over email or from a news app, it will disrupt that routine and it will create urgency instead of rhythm. So maybe for a season you unsubscribe from news emails or you temporarily just change your settings on an app or something so that you can have a break for a while. go when your news routine tells you to. Now, I just said that you could do that for a season, which leads me to the next principle, live in the season. If you're in a regular old season of life that is overwhelming, you cannot also be overwhelmed by the world. Like the body and soul can only take so much. So even though the news matters, equality matters, justice matters, responding to

natural disasters, it matters. Your season of life does too. If you need to schedule rest longer than you would like for this season while you tend to a sick kid or you mourn a loss or you start a new job or whatever it is. Please do that. The solution to all of these huge problems of the world, it does not solely rest on your shoulders. It can't. It can't. Which leads me to the next principle. Start small. We learned this from Sharon McMahon's book, The Small and the Mighty, among many other sources and experiences, but so much of what is good in the world is because of people doing small things. No single, fallible human being can change the world on their own with one sweeping big decision. But many of us together can do small things that change the world.

That's why if you are in a season where you're limited and how you can be engaged or help or whatever is on your radar just feels too small, remember that nothing is. Nothing is too small. In fact, if you're paralyzed to do something because what you have in front of you feels too small to matter, you won't do anything at all. Don't let the smallness of a decision prevent you from doing it. Everyone's starting small where they are with like a $5 donation, a kind word to a stranger, or the choice to take a break from the news today so you can tend to the souls of the people in your home.

All of those small things really matter. And that's true, I think even if the impact is on your own soul. Another principle, decide once. This is a treasure trove, really? You can decide once that you will always give this amount of money to this organization during a natural disaster. Done. You can decide once that you will call your reps on Thursday mornings. Done.

You can decide once that after you read the news, you will listen to a song that speaks to your soul and calms you down. Whenever overwhelm is involved, Decide Once is there to help. Another principle that might help is set house rules. This is a little similar to Decide Once as a concept, but its purpose is more preventative. Deciding Once is about limiting decision fatigue. House rules help keep situations from getting out of control. control. So a house rule for you might be that you only get news from these specific places. You might have a house rule that you will not discuss current events with a particular family

member or friend because they're not curious or kind and it's kind of toxic for you to talk to them and so you're going to set a boundary about that. Another house rule for your actual house might be that no one is allowed to speak in generalities or in a derogatory way about another person, party, or people. If you think house rules are a good fit for your particular brand of overwhelm, they can certainly help prevent chaos and ease that level of overwhelm by kind of stopping it at the start. Now, another principle, batch it. That could be a very interesting lazy genius principle for feeling overwhelmed by the world, you could choose a single day every week or even every month where you tend to the things that you care about that are part of the world, part of the

news, but that also kind of drain you. And you could get them all done at once if that better suits your energy. You know, so you call all your reps and then you read your favorite political substacks, like all in the same day. You just dive in, right? Maybe you batch like looking up places that you would like to volunteer locally or organizations you would like to donate to. You spend some time all at once kind of researching those things. And then you have a list in your phone of ways and available times that you can help or places you can donate. If you just want to dive in and get some stuff done all at once, batching could be really helpful.

Next up to consider is essentialize. That's getting rid of what's in the way and only keeping what is essential. Now, this one, it might be a really easy principle to apply of all 13 because it really is simply about elimination of something. As a personal example of essentialize, this is why I don't really get on Instagram anymore. So much of the content fed to me, it wasn't essential and it was making me super overwhelmed. So I deleted the app. I got rid of what was in the way.

I still wanted the news content from a couple of Instagram creators. so I instead subscribed to their substacks. Then I set my email notifications to be minimal. And that was how I essentialized. It's been wildly, wildly helpful in keeping my overwhelm low without disengaging. So if you feel overwhelmed by the world, try and notice if you're overwhelmed by something you don't actually need and get rid of it. All right, three more. The next principle that might resonate with you is let me.

people in. Now this one is risky because you might talk to someone who has different beliefs, values, or priorities that you do. And in certain scenarios, that risk might feel like dangerous or scary. But in places where the risk feels low or manageable, or you have the groundedness and kindness that day to engage with someone differently, which we really need to practice doing anyway, you can let people in to how you're feeling. If you're so overwhelmed by the news and you don't know where to even start small, maybe you can let someone into that. You can ask a person who knows you for their feedback, you know,

like assuming they know you pretty well, they know your personality, they know what is good for you. You can ask them for their counsel. Like what would their counsel be for what you should do? Don't just hold the overwhelm in your body and deal with it alone. Let someone into it. and where you have the margin, maybe you can be that person for someone else. The application for you is that, you know, you are a safe place for someone to share their

struggles with the news, with questions about the nuance of something, with feeling hopeless, even with feeling differently about a topic than you do, but it's a kind place to discuss those differences. You can see that opportunity, if it's one you're in already, is a gift as a contribution to the goodness of the world, being a safe place for even one person is so valuable. So this next one has multiple applications, just like all of them do. But I want to be specific about one of them. And I believe that this application should be true no matter who you are and what you believe.

The next one is put everything in its place. And we've already done that a bit with like phone numbers and rest and such. But right now I want to say for sure that one thing that must be in place. for every single person is standing up against dehumanization. Under no circumstances, should any human, no matter who they are or what they've done, no human should be treated without dignity. No human should be treated as less than a person. Sharon McMahon had a great post recently about dehumanization,

and I encourage you all to check it out if you haven't seen it already. But the moment we start treating human beings like they are not human beings, like they are beneath us, like they are animals, like they don't deserve to be loved and cared for. We are gone as a people. And that goes both ways. Sharon's Post spoke, mostly of people dehumanizing immigrants being brought to what's being called alligator Alcatraz and the dehumanization in that situation and in other immigration circumstances right now is deplorable. It's heartbreaking. It's disgusting. It's 100% wrong. And so is dehumanizing. the people in power who made those deplorable choices, or dehumanizing the people who rejoice in them.

I know that's hard to process, and you also don't have to agree with me. But I believe that what must be firmly in place in order to keep doing the work of building a better country and a better world for all people is to maintain the dignity and humanity of all people, not just the people you agree with. everybody being appalled and appropriately appalled by abhorrent name-calling of these immigrant populations and these people who are being treated not like people being appalled by the name-calling it doesn't give us permission to name-call right back dehumanization can go both ways but thankfully so can humanization that doesn't mean we can't get angry about policies or fight for what matters or not even trust certain people who hold power. Humanization isn't about condoning everyone's values or choices. It's about treating people like

they are people, no matter who they are. I believe that if that's in place, we can get a lot more done for a lot more people. And finally, our last principle, which is often last in our lists, because it's a good bookend is to be kind to yourself. Be kind when you are unkind. Be kind when you need to repair. Be kind when you feel like you're not doing enough. Be kind when you feel hopeless or hopeless. Be kind when your kid is watching international soccer and shouts, yeah, America is so much better than you. And it has like nationalistic energy and you panic for a second about that. And then you you take a deep breath and you kindly remind him that having pride in your own country is lovely and wonderful, but that doesn't mean you have to speak negatively about another country.

Be kind. Be kind in those moments. We're all overwhelmed by something. And right now, it's probably the world plus a few other things. These lazy genius principles, they aren't just like a cute little list I roll out when I need content for a podcast episode. They are genuinely the building blocks of a life I think you all want to live. They are doable, actionable tools that prioritize the soul. And now is a really great time to put one or two into practice so that you can be more deeply yourself with energy and care around what matters most to you in this season of the world that we're in. And that's a word for when you're overwhelmed by the world. All right, before we go, as always, celebrate the lazy genius of the week. This week, it is Heidi Friedhoff with a simple seasonal tip.

Heidi writes, I live in Iowa where there are definitely four seasons. I have three kids, ages 16, 14, and 12 who go outside a lot. Plus, our neighbors have a pool. So when it's time to put the winter coats away, I move a beach towel and goggles to each of their hooks by the back door. That way we have them where and when we need them. Well, this is fantastic. fantastic. Use hooks for whatever needs hooking and whatever season you're in. That is practical and metaphorically helpful too in this time. So thank you for sharing this tip, Heidi, and congratulations on being the lazy genius of the week. So today, you guys, July 21st, it is the last day that we are taking submissions to our annual lazy genius survey. We would love to have your feedback. And remember,

as a thank you for filling it out and helping us make wise and helpful choices about our content, over the next year, we are choosing five random folks who submit a survey to win a $100 gift card to a store of your choice from a limited list of choices. The link to fill out that survey is in the show notes and we are so grateful that you took the time to fill it out. So today is the last day to enter your feedback and your prize entry. So hop two if you want to participate in that. All right, this podcast is part of the Odyssey family and the Office Ladies Network. This episode is hosted by me, Kendra Adachi, and executive produced by Kendra Adachi, Jenna Fisher, and Angela Kinsey. Special thanks to Leah Jarvis for weekly production. Thanks y'all for listening.

And until next time, be a genius about the things that matter and lazy about the things that don't. I'm Kendra, and I'll see you next week. You ever felt like you were living just a B or B plus life? It's so dangerous to live that, more dangerous than a B minus or a C plus life, because when you're living a B or B plus life, don't change it. You think it's good enough. Is it? I'm Susie Welch. I host a podcast called Becoming You. People think, okay, an A-plus life is not available to me, but there is a way. We are all in the process of becoming ourselves. Listen to Becoming You wherever you get your podcasts.