Life is Delicious- Midlife, Menopause, Mindset, Miracles, Gen X Women, Empty Nest, Retirement, Self Improvement

Mental Burnout in Midlife: Understanding and Overcoming Decision Fatigue

• Marnie Martin

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Feeling mentally exhausted by the countless choices you face each day? You're not alone. Decision fatigue – that mental burnout that happens when we've made too many choices – is silently draining our energy and affecting our ability to think clearly, especially during the midlife juggling act.

When you're managing aging parents, supporting adult children, handling work projects, and dealing with your own health changes, those hundreds of little decisions add up quickly. By lunchtime, your mental reserves are depleted, leaving you vulnerable to impulse purchases, unhealthy food choices, or simply shutting down altogether. This isn't a failure of willpower – it's your brain's natural response to decision overload.

The world's most successful people have recognized this cognitive drain and created strategic solutions. Barack Obama wore only gray or blue suits every day, stating "I don't want to make decisions about what I'm eating or wearing because I have too many other decisions to make." Steve Jobs had his black turtleneck uniform, and Serena Williams ate the same pre-match meals – not out of quirky habit, but as deliberate mental energy conservation.

You deserve the same mental clarity. This episode unpacks five practical strategies to combat decision fatigue: automating routine choices, creating daily rituals, limiting options, making important decisions early in the day when your brain is freshest, and reducing digital overwhelm. The challenge? Choose just one area of your life this week where you can simplify decisions – whether it's rotating three work outfits, prepping breakfast the night before, or giving yourself permission to say "no" more often.

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Speaker 1:

Hey, beautiful friend, it's Marni Martin. I hope you guys had a great weekend and that you did something that lit up your heart and fed your soul. I'm so glad to welcome you back to the podcast, where we have real talk, real tools and real support as we navigate this wild, beautiful and often overwhelming stage of life together. I don't know about you guys, but this time of year throws me off a little bit, because it's like we're not in winter anymore and we're not really in spring, and so we're kind of in this seasonal purgatory, and so I am. You know, you get that spring fever itch and you want to clean out cupboards and you want to do all kinds of things, but it just sort of it's too early for a lot of it. So luckily, the weather did cooperate and I did get out to do some gardening and I cleaned off the deck and got the windows cleaned and gave the house a nice deep clean. So that felt really, really good. So what I wanted to talk about today is something that actually hit me like a ton of bricks this week, and it's called decision fatigue. I have a lot on my plate right now and I was really just struggling, trying to make sense of it all, and what ended up happening was I just shut down and completely, you know, just stopped because I didn't have the capacity to make any more decisions. So I did a little research about it and before we dive into what it is and how we can beat it, I wanted to start with just a little heart to heart. If you're anything like me, your brain is holding a lot right now, and maybe you're juggling calls from your aging parents while you're trying to support your adult kids as they make their way in the world. Maybe you're in the middle of a big work project and maybe your dog needs a vet visit, the fridge is empty and, oh yeah, you're dealing with brain fog, hot flashes and all those fun hormone shifts that no one really quite prepared you for. It's no wonder we're exhausted. For goodness sakes, we're making a hundred little decisions before we even sit down with our first cup of coffee and that constant mental juggling act. It's not just stressful, it's depleting, and that's what we're going to dive into today. So stick around, grab yourself a cup of coffee and let's get into it.

Speaker 1:

Welcome to this episode of Life is Delicious. I'm your host, marni Martin, a multi-passionate entrepreneur, a best-selling author, a voiceover artist and a hot midlife mama. Literally, I created the Life is Delicious podcast with one simple mission in mind to help strong, beautiful midlife women just like you reclaim your power and turn up the volume on your inner voice so that you can write your own unique recipe for a next chapter life that feeds your soul. I'm so glad you're here. It's an honor to get to spend a little time with you each week and if this is your first time here, welcome to the Life is Delicious family.

Speaker 1:

Before we get started, I wanted to let you know about my new book. Happy is Not an Accident. It's a guided journal that I created with awesome, inspiring prompts, exercises and deep, thought-provoking questions to help you gain massive clarity on what lights you up, what weighs you down and who you want to become as you rewrite your own recipe for a next chapter life that feeds your soul. You can get your copy at lifeisdeliciousca forward slash bookshelf. That's lifeisdeliciousca forward slash bookshelf.

Speaker 1:

Okay, so what I found out this week is that decision fatigue is like mental burnout. That happens when you've just like made too many choices throughout the day, big or small, and, let's be honest, when you're managing life at both ends of the generational spectrum. Those decisions just feel endless what to cook for dinner, how to support your mom without sounding like you're parenting her, when to check in on your daughter who's just started her first job, or whether you remember to refill your own thyroid meds Again. You know like that's a lot of stuff. And when your brain is constantly in overdrive, your ability to make clear, calm, rational decisions well, it starts to slip. You might find yourself zoning out in front of the TV doing some impulse shopping online or grabbing whatever food is closest, not because you don't care, but because you just don't have the bandwidth to care at the moment, and I know that's 100% true for me. But here's the thing it's not about working harder or being more organized. It's actually about understanding that your mental energy is like a resource and protecting it is like gold. So how do we do that?

Speaker 1:

So I went to town doing a little bit of homework just to see how I could actually implement this into my own life, because I know for sure that by the time I got to the end of the weekend, I had to have like a bit of a talk with myself and say you know what something's got to give here. You've got to find a better solution, and I think for me, a lot of it is distraction based and maybe not having the proper routines in place that I need. Here's what I found. There's some really great strategies that we can implement. They're not really difficult, but it's it's like a practice right. It's something we have to do consciously and regularly for it to actually make an impact. Here are five real life strategies that you can use right away.

Speaker 1:

So number one automate your routine decisions, and that is a really big one, like simplifying your wardrobe planning dinners for the week ahead, maybe doing your major cook on Sunday, or using grocery delivery so you don't have to actually go to the store and those meal kits that you can get delivered to the house actually take a lot off your shopping plate. And also trying to figure out what to cook for dinner and what to add and if you have the right ingredients, all those things. So those little tiny things that we do. Well, they actually add up to taking a lot off our brain. To have to think about.

Speaker 1:

Creating daily rituals is number two, and that means having systems in place that support your mental health, and I am terrible at systems. I am a kind of fly by the seat of your pants kind of gal, so that one's a bit of a challenge for me, but I'm working on it. So having breakfast time at the same time, eating the same kind of foods, making sure that you have your Sunday planning sessions and proper sleep hygiene, where you can actually get into bed a little bit earlier and make sure that you have taken care of all the stuff that matters before you go to sleep. Maybe offload your brain and do a little bit of a brain dump so that you can rest more easily that could be a good one. And using technology to our advantage Turning your notifications off while you're working and time blocking is huge. I know for me like I'm all over the place sometimes and I'm trying to do nine things at once, and that just wreaks havoc with my performance and my production. So that's another one that I think is really important, and I know for sure for me I am in front of a screen way more than I should be most of the time. So I'm going to try and implement a thing called Screenless Sunday. I want to have a little bit of a screen detox day, because I definitely feel some days like I have a bit of a technology hangover in the morning. So that's one thing I'm definitely going to work on and I'll keep you posted as to how that goes.

Speaker 1:

So another thing is if you have too many choices to make. Number three is limiting your options. So if you've got nine things, you can choose from your options. So if you've got nine things you can choose from, pick three solid choices and just go from there. The fewer the options, the faster and the better decision you probably will make. And here's one that I found interesting. Number four is make important decisions early in the day, which kind of makes sense because we're sharper in the morning and we have a lot more brain power. So tackle the big stuff when your brain is freshest, usually in the morning, and we have a lot more brain power.

Speaker 1:

So tackle the big stuff when your brain is freshest, usually in the morning. And then number five is reduce digital overload. That's what we were just talking about turning off non-essential notifications, creating screen-free zones where you maybe read a book or do something else, because there's so many things I love to do, like creating an art project or going for a bike ride, or maybe it's just writing a letter to a friend or sending a card to somebody that I love, like all of those things that don't involve a computer or a phone, and I think it makes a difference. I even notice that I have a stiff neck sometimes because I I know that we are looking down at our phones for a good chunk of our day, and our computers, so I'm really working on the ergonomics of my desk to try and make that better for my body. What I found kind of fascinating is that there's some pretty big names out there who have mastered the art of reducing the decision fatigue and it's on purpose, by the way. Fatigue and it's on purpose, by the way.

Speaker 1:

Barack Obama as president Obama wore the same suit colors gray or blue every day. He said I don't want to make decisions about what I'm eating or wearing because I have too many other decisions to make. Sound familiar. Steve Jobs the black turtleneck jeans, sneakers every single day Not a fashion statement, but a way to save his brain power for innovation. Mark Zuckerberg same idea Fewer choices in the morning meant more energy to make the big calls at Facebook. And Serena Williams Before big matches. Serena would eat the same meals and follow specific routines to avoid unnecessary decision-making. She's saving her brain for performance, not breakfast. These people aren't just quirky, they're smart, and by automating the small stuff, they can focus on what really matters.

Speaker 1:

So here's a little challenge for you for the week Choose just one area of your life where you can reduce decisions. Maybe it's rotating three outfits for your work week. Maybe it's prepping your breakfast the night before, and that could be like overnight oats. Or it could be making quiche so that you just have to slice it and heat it up. Maybe it's just giving yourself permission to say no more often.

Speaker 1:

Whatever it is that you decide to do, do it with love and do it for your own mental space, your peace of mind and your ability to keep showing up as the strong, centered, beautifully complex woman that you are. You're doing better than you think, and I know for me I needed this little reminder and I know that there's no accidents. Sometimes, when we go through something that's really challenging, often it's because we are due and ready for a breakthrough. You are carrying so much and you deserve space to rest your mind, so make sure you take time for that this week and, until next time, take care of you.

Speaker 1:

I hope you loved today's episode. I hope it inspired you or motivated you in some way to keep going and create your very best life. If you did, would you stop and take five minutes to leave me a review on Apple Podcasts? It's the best way for me to know that you're enjoying the show and it helps other listeners find us as well. And if you haven't already, make sure you subscribe wherever you get your podcasts so that when new episodes drop they'll be queued up and ready for you. I'll be back next week and I hope you'll join me right here on Life is Delicious.