Welcome to Dear Life, Local-news.ca’s advice column! We’ve got two excellent advice-givers, Caroline Elisabeth Pigott and Sara Curto, ready to advise Burlington residents on their sticky problems and thorny life challenges. Sara is a career coach with deep experience in counselling and talent acquisition — and she’s always been that person who people look to for advice. Caroline Elisabeth is a life and health coach, whose academic background in social work and professional work in PR have converged here. She specializes in helping introverts reach their goals in an extrovert-worshipping world — something she knows on a personal and professional level.
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Dear Life,
It feels like there’s a lot of news and information coming at us every day. I find it easy to feel anxious, angry, and overwhelmed and I’d like more balance in my life! What are some effective ways to manage this information overload, filter out the unnecessary, and maintain our emotional well-being?
Best, Overloaded and Overwhelmed
Sara says:
I hear you, Overloaded and Overwhelmed! The same thing happened to me in February 2022. To take care of my mental health, I reduced my time on social media and unfollowed any accounts that increased those negative feelings. That’s the easiest and most often recommended piece of advice, and it did work wonders. But I also needed to tackle those feelings I had (and still come up from time to time).
Anxiety and anger are feelings that can elicit a strong physical response and can often be processed physically as well. For me, this meant that I ensured my exercise allowed me to efficiently and quickly process those emotions – I’m a runner, so I made my runs longer, and added in heavier weights for strength training. Many people have a lot of success with adding in meditation or yoga for a calming effect. Or boxing, kickboxing or a team sport to dissipate some anger and aggression.
Overwhelm isn’t as easy to deal with because when our brain is overwhelmed, it has to do nothing, it’s the only way to fully process it. So, I eliminated all extra information that I didn’t need — I didn’t read, listen to, or watch anything serious or with too much learning. It meant that I only read romance novels, stopped listening to most podcasts (except Office Ladies, that’s my go-to), and I stuck to mostly rewatching my comfort shows. Then as I started to feel better, I began slowly reintroducing things that I wanted to, things that I truly enjoy.
This past October, I had a similar situation but was able to recover really quickly as I knew exactly what I needed to do. I sometimes feel a lot of guilt that I am privileged enough to be able to cull this information to take care of my mental health when so many people are suffering, but I have me, my family, and my coaching clients that I need to be healthy for. It helps with the guilt and reminds me to be grateful that I have the choice to check out when so many people don’t have it. That gratitude also helps with my recovery.
Good luck, Overloaded and Overwhelmed, and let me know what works for you!
Caroline says:
Dear Overloaded and Overwhelmed, It’s completely understandable to feel the way you do! There is a constant stream of information coming our way.
To regain balance and reduce the overwhelm, here are some strategies I suggest: first, set boundaries. We live in a society with no boundaries when it comes to news and information. It’s therefore important to implement some of your own boundaries and not allow information overload to impact sleep and disrupt your day-to-day life. Decide on times of the day when you’ll allow it in. This could look like 30 minutes in the morning and 30 minutes in the evening or days you don’t check in at all!
Second: be selective! Choosing a few reliable sources that you trust can reduce the feeling of being bombarded with contradictory information or sensationalism. Take advantage of features like “Do Not Disturb,” app timers, and notification settings on your devices to minimize interruptions. Apps that aggregate news can also be set to show you only certain types of updates or topics you care about, helping filter out the rest.
Third: be selectively ignorant. It’s okay to not know every detail about every event. Focus on being well-informed rather than fully informed. Ask yourself whether the information is useful or necessary for your daily life or long-term goals. Finally, calm the mind by moving the body. Regular exercise helps manage stress and improves mood. Even a short walk can provide a break from the digital world and help release negativity and overwhelm. There can be such a thing as creating a healthier, more balanced approach to the information you consume without completely cutting yourself off from daily news and information. Implementing these strategies can help you feel more in control and less overwhelmed.
Sara Curto is a career coach who helps people find their dream job or land that next promotion, where they work less, make more money and finally feel fulfilled and happy doing work they love. Leveraging a background in counselling, 15 years in talent acquisition and 5+ years as a resume writer and career coach, Sara has helped over 500 people find work they love with her coaching and process. She has partnered with organizations such as Burlington Public Library, York University, Mining Industry Human Resources Council, and Human Resources Professional Association to facilitate customized workshops.
To connect with Sara online:
www.saracurto.ca
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jobcoachsara/
Caroline Elisabeth Pigott is a certified life and health coach who works with clients to strengthen their assertiveness, be more confident in themselves, and increase their energy levels so that they can reach their goals without burnout. Caroline empowers introverted entrepreneurs to step into their quiet leadership power through her private practice as well as supports employees reach their full potential, and strengthen mindsets and skills as a care coach with BetterUp, a global leadership and development platform.
Find Caroline at buildyourbrilliance.com.
