The “Overwhelm” Excuse

Not every profession and person is overwhelmed these days, but you wouldn’t quite know it from our discussions.

We could concoct a partial list (and it would only be partial) of things that overwhelm most people these days, and we could even do it at a macro- and micro-level. To wit:

Macro

• Income inequality
• Inflation
• Women’s issues/abortion
• The economy as a whole
• The climate
• Partisan bickering
• What social media is doing to us

And then: Micro

• Pleasing your boss
• Getting your kids places
• Figuring out if you’re doing a good job with your kids
• Being a good spouse
• Groceries
• Keeping up with friends
• Aging parents

Some of those “micro” and “macro” may overlap, of course.

We’ve even created terms around all this, including “languishing,” and I’d be completely surprised if “burnout” wasn’t a top-five term used since 2020.

But the bigger picture here is a little more complicated, I think.

Everyone is overwhelmed, but … not at the same levels.

I think in the last few years, we’ve definitely seem overwhelm in these buckets:

• Health care
• “Essential” workers
• Single moms/dads
• Multi-child families without a large space or general affluence

It does feel, though, like there’s been “semantic creep” around the “overwhelm” term and now everyone wants to claim it. Just because Subdivision Sarah’s Instagram feed is loaded with BLM and politics and critical race theory and the normal tummy tea stuff, that doesn’t necessarily mean her relatively comfortable (with admitted challenges) life is overwhelming, especially not when you contextually compare it to others. It’s a bit similar these days with “trauma” — everyone seems to be…