How to cope with overwhelm. And how to write for people who are feeling it too

I’ve been having lots of conversations recently with people who are feeling overwhelmed. Whether it’s lockdown, work, lack of work, family dramas, fears about the future, there’s something about the restricted way we’re living at the moment that is prompting an uncomfortable feeling of overwhelm. 

Some of us are experiencing it as an oppressive heavy blanket that drags us down, for others it’s panicky, heart racing and adrenaline fuelled. 

We can feel overwhelmed when there is so much to do and too little time to get it done, but it emerges also when there’s not enough to do and too much time to worry. Whatever the cause, emotions are magnified, and decisions feel monumentally difficult. 

How are you feeling?

If you’re feeling it, my advice would be to be kind to yourself. Talk to a friend, step away from your routine, give yourself a break. Sleep, food, exercise, read, listen, laughter. Do whatever you need to inject some feel-good moments into your day. 

This feeling of overwhelm is likely to be affecting your clients and customers too. You can do something to help here. When you see your marketing as a way to help your customers, it’s a natural progression to try and create content for them that makes life easier and less overwhelming too. 

Here’s what I mean.

Ground your reader in the here-and-now

Overwhelm can be an empty feeling that needs to be filled with something; we’re constantly looking for answers, even though we’ve forgotten the question! A way to stop the mindless scrolling or racing thoughts is to ground your reader in the moment. 

Sensory writing - evoking smell, touch, taste, colour - can sometimes break through. Startling imagery or surprising metaphors that engage memories or senses can stop people in their tracks. If you can make your reader feel something, they might just slow down enough to listen and breathe.

Good writing can be part of the antidote to overwhelm.

Do one thing

Being the expert sometimes leads to the curse of knowledge. You want to create helpful content, but the trouble is, you just know too much. So you start out writing a helpful post that answers your reader’s question, but you keep adding more and more layers to it. And before you know it, you’ve given them a complicated road map and a to-do list as long as your arm!

Rather than packing lots of detail into one big chunky guide, treat every question as a separate blog post that feels like an answer, and not a door to a hundred more questions!

Break your advice down into small, achievable steps. Being able to take positive action will make your reader feel in control.

What’s the one thing they need to do to start? 

Pay extra attention to layout

Use plenty of white space, a decent sized font, and clear headings that guide your reader through your writing. Imagine holding them by the hand and leading them through what you’ve written. Pay attention to your punctuation. Is it simple and clear? Don’t leave clumsy sentences for them to trip over!

A good test to find out whether people are likely to stumble when they’re reading your copy is to read it out loud. If you find yourself tripping over any words, it’s likely that your reader will too.

As far as simple punctuation goes, plenty of full stops and a few commas will serve you well.

Be empathetic

Feeling overwhelmed isn’t a comfortable feeling. It’s hard to concentrate, everything seems difficult, simple decisions can feel like mountains to climb. It can be lonely.  

If you know your reader is feeling like that, you can compensate for it with your writing. 

Making your copy clear and easy read is a kindness.

Not being able to understand just adds to a general feeling of detachment, so don’t let your reader feel out of their depth with your words. Give them lots of stepping stones in the form of simple words, straightforward explanations, and real life examples.

Conversational writing techniques, like using questions in your copy can make your reader feel less alone. Can you see how that might work?

Limit your links  

Whenever I put just one link in my newsletter rather than 5, or even 2, the click rate goes up.

Looking for an answer and landing on a page that opens up to a spaghetti of other links isn’t reassuring. If you’re feeling overwhelmed being faced with a wide choice is a heart sinking feeling, not a calming one. 

Frazzled people don’t want to make decisions about the next thing to read, they want you to make the decision for them.

So make life easier. Take control and point your readers at the one best thing for them to read next. 

How do you write with kindness? What works for you?