Micro-stressors and why you need to take care of them

Some examples - do any get you nodding your head?

Household & Routines

• Laundry piling up all over the house

• Discovering that there are no sheets on the bed, just when you are ready to collapse into it

• Constantly running out of household essentials (toilet roll, detergent, bin bags etc.)

• Running late for everything

• The “dumping ground” that is the entrance

• Spending ages hunting for lost items (car keys, hairbrush, charger)

• Constant battle with cluttered kitchen counters

• The dishwasher never being empty when you need it

Food & Meals

• Standing in front of the fridge at 5pm wondering what’s for dinner

• Wasting food because it goes out of date before it’s used

• Forgetting to take meat out of the freezer

• Constantly running out of milk or bread

• Doing multiple top-up shops each week

• Spending too long writing shopping lists

• Struggling to keep track of what’s in the cupboards

• The never ending demands for snacks

Mental Load & Organisation

• Having 101 things to remember at any one time (birthdays, school events, appointments etc.)

• Double-booking or missing things because the calendar isn’t up to date

• Notifications everywhere - phone, email, apps

• Having no easy way to delegate or share tasks with your partner

• Forgetting infrequent life admin things like car MOT, dentist check-ups, boiler service

• Losing track of bills or renewal dates for things like insurance or subscriptions

• Being the only one in the household who knows how everything works

• Paperwork, everywhere

• Constantly being asked “what’s happening tomorrow/this weekend/are we free on date x?”

Family & Parenting

• The morning routine (enough said)

• Endless forms

• Toys everywhere

• Never having clean PE kit when it’s needed

• Outgrown clothes piling up in drawers or cupboards

• Always leaving something out of the nappy bag by mistake

• Bedtime taking forever every night

• Struggling to keep track of what’s due for nursery or school (dress-up days, PE kit, show and tell)

• Kids’ clothes drawers overflowing but still “nothing to wear”

Your Home

• Kitchen drawers crammed full

• The hallway cluttered with shoes, coats, and bags

• The “junk drawer” that drives you mad but you avoid

• A wobbly loo seat

• Going to wash your hair and discovering the shampoo bottle is empty

• The toilet roll holder hanging off the wall

• Trying to find the sellotape (yet again)

• No matching socks

• Constantly getting in each other's way in the kitchen

I could go on, but you get the idea.

1. They feel trivial or too small to give headspace to

2. We stop noticing them and simply get on with our day

3. We prioritise “big issues”

4. We assume that’s just how it is, that there is no other way

BUT, noticing them is the first step to changing them. Once you see where the friction is, you can start thinking of ways around them. 

Simply by reading this blog post you will start to tune into the daily annoyances you encounter - and that’s a good start!

The next step is finding ways around them.

Some micro-stressors may have an obvious solution. Once your eyes are open to them, you’ll suddenly think “why didn’t I do this before?”.

Some might be harder to solve. If you'd like a hand turning those micro-stressors around, here are some resources you might find helpful: