Some stress you choose. Some stress chooses you.

I like history.

I especially like asking myself, “A hundred years ago, how would this have gone down?”

I ask that in clinic and even in the hospital at times. I ask it when I’m talking with leaders. I ask it in my own life when I feel overwhelmed and then look around at my dishwasher, my computer, my car, and think, “Wait. People used to have to do so much more just to get through a day.”

So why are we more overwhelmed?

I think a lot of it is cognitive load.

A hundred or 150 years ago, a family might have had one book they were reading together at night while they did hand chores. I am not romanticizing that life. I am very happy with my one-demand hot water and electricity.

But I do think we have to curate our cognitive load more carefully.

As I’ve mentioned before, there are two kinds of stress: the stress you choose and the stress that chooses you.

You choose to adopt a pet. You choose to apply for a new job. You choose to start a nonprofit. You choose to take a trip. Those things are stressful, but they are part of the life you want. They move you toward a positive goal.

Then there is the stress that chooses you. The diagnosis. The parking ticket. The cracked window. The loss. The responsibility you did not ask for but now have to carry.

Both kinds of stress require strategies.

Cognitive load works the same way.

Some cognitive load we choose because it serves the life we want. We learn something. We research something. We take in information that helps us act.

But some cognitive load chooses us. Forms. Legal details. Medical decisions. News. Emails. Family responsibilities. Search results that go on forever.

The strategy is not to take it all in.

The strategy is to curate.

To ask: What is trustworthy? What is useful? What helps me move toward the goal?

What cognitive load have you chosen lately and what cognitive load chose you?

All my best,

Dr. G