Here’s the latest in workplace mental health, resources, and relatable stories for the burnt out and languishing.

here* is what we’ve got this week:

• The latest in mental health, including the return of the ice bucket challenge. 🧊 

• Three easy and accessible wellness tips to practice this week, like trying out a grandma hobby. 🧶 

• Things we’re loving (maybe a little too much) like Doechii’s official music video for ‘Anxiety’

• And lastly, a look at why so many of us feel scattered at work, what cognitive science tells us about it, and how to start quieting the mental noise.

Mental health and work are ever-evolving (it’s exhausting). here* is the latest.

• That’s right, folks. The Ice Bucket Challenge is back and this time it’s focused on mental health awareness (NBC)

• Happiness experts say it may be time to stop living for the weekend (CNN)

• And then this one time, anxiety drugs were found in the nearby rivers and salmon started to chill and take risks (not necessarily a good thing, apparently 🥴 ) (CNN)

There are only 24 hours in the day. here* are your weekly wellness shortcuts.

• If you’re feeling absolutely out of sorts heading into spring, try these 11 organization tips (Wondermind)

• Is a ‘grandma hobby’ just the thing your mental health is missing? Try knitting, gardening, or bird-watching and find out (Good Housekeeping)

• Finding a workplace bestie older or younger than you may be just what you need to combat loneliness (Fast Company)

Things we’re loving atm.

• The perfect mug for you and your new work bestie 😉 

• This emotions roadmap to help navigate all the ‘ish in and out of work 😵‍💫 

• This incredibly useful newsletter that helps us manage at work 👇️ 

You open Slack to respond to one message. And then…

Ten minutes later, you’ve clicked through five threads, checked your calendar, half-read an email, and forgotten why you opened Slack in the first place.

If this sounds familiar, you’re not alone—and you’re not broken.

You’re experiencing cognitive overload.

What’s actually happening

Modern work requires us to remember a lot: tasks, names, conversations, project details, decisions, links, files, threads, approvals, tools, the list goes on. And we’re doing it in environments that constantly interrupt us.

Working memory—the part of your brain that holds information temporarily while you use it—isn’t built for 10+ active inputs at once. It’s built for 2–4 at most.

When you get pulled from one task to another before finishing the first, your brain drops pieces. This is why you forget what you were doing, re-read emails three times, or leave meetings unsure of what was decided.

The contributors stack up quickly.

• Constant notifications and pings

• Context switching across tools and platforms

• Long meetings with no clear outcomes

• Lack of structure in remote/hybrid environments

• Fatigue from decision-making and prioritizing all day

It’s not that you’re “bad at focusing.” Your brain is dealing with too much at once—without enough time to recover.

What helps and what doesn’t.

❌ Not helpful:

• Forcing focus when your brain is already fatigued

• Keeping all your to-dos in your head

• Relying on willpower to stay “on task” in a distracting environment

✅ More helpful:

• Externalize everything: write it down, don’t rely on memory

• Create one protected, notification-free block of time per day

• Build in mental reset points (standing up, 2-minute break, a walk around the block)

• Make your work visible so you don’t have to hold it all in your head (e.g., simple lists, shared notes, post-its)

Why this matters

An overloaded mind can be a sign of poor workplace architecture. If your team is experiencing cognitive overload, it’s likely a systems issue, not a people problem.

But change is possible (it’s why we’re here* isn’t it?!). Start small. One block of protected time. One tab closed. One list on paper.

Try this one thing

Run a content intake check with your team.
In your next check-in, ask everyone to reflect on the digital noise in their week.

• What types of content or comms helped you focus?

• What felt distracting, repetitive, or unnecessary?

• What could we reduce, consolidate, or cut?

That’s all for this week.

We’ll be back in your inbox next Monday. Until then, we’d love to hear from you. Let us know what content you like or what you’d like to see more of in the next issue. And if you try the one thing above, reply to this email and let us know how it goes.

<3

here* fam