How to Deal With Stress When Everything Feels Important at Once

Art by Jia Agarwalla

It’s the classic situation: it's 2 a.m., and you’ve decided to rebrand your life in a desperate attempt to feel something other than an overwhelming sense of doom and despair. All’s well and good until your alarm goes off at 6.30 for school and your reminders are flooded with deadlines, group chat spam and home responsibilities all demanding your immediate attention. We’ve all been there, when everything feels equally urgent and overwhelming. But how can you get out of it? The problem isn’t just the sheer amount of work; it’s the inability to prioritise. Managing this kind of stress requires rethinking urgency, structuring your priorities and creating much-needed mental space.

So, why does everything feel so important? Well, our brain treats multiple tasks as equally threatening because it’s literally designed to. Its systems for survival - the amygdala - are designed to react quickly to anything it deems urgent. That’s things like deadlines, disappointing others and fear of failure. When too many things flood in at once, your working memory gets overloaded, and you lose the ability to compare importance effectively, so your brain creates a “false urgency”, basing priorities on emotional instincts rather than rational ones. Essentially, that pit of stress you feel when you look at your to-do list comes from a lack of clarity rather than the volume of work itself. But how do you separate an ever-growing to-do list? 

Step 1: Separate tasks between urgent and important

Not all tasks deserve immediate attention; some could easily wait a day. If you’re like me, it can sometimes be hard to leave tasks hanging, especially if your brain feels like it’s ringing alarm bells all the time, but part of separating these tasks is leaning into the discomfort in order to get things done logically and systematically. One way that helps me is categorising tasks between ‘urgent & important’, ‘important but not urgent’ and ‘low priority’. I find that this helps reduce that feeling of overwhelm massively, especially if you consider prioritisation to be a decision rather than a feeling. 

Step 2: Focus on one task at a time

We’ve heard it all before, but it really is true: multitasking increases stress and reduces efficiency. Yes, watching Netflix whilst revising is not actually revising, nor is it actually fully watching Netflix. You have to choose one task and commit to it fully for a set period (apps like Opal or Flora are really helpful for limiting distractions on your phone). This progress that you will inevitably make creates a sense of control and boosts your mood and productivity levels - it’s a win-win.

Step 3: Manage mental pressure 

Look, we all feel it - that internal pressure that stems from perfectionism or the high expectations we set for ourselves. But in order to progress and work through those tasks, you have to lower your standards for starting; not everything needs to be perfect. If you do feel things getting out of your control, take a short break, get some fresh air or anything that helps you reset mentally. That calm thinking will help you make better decisions. 

Step 4: Accept limits 

This might be the hardest one to master. But sometimes we have to accept that we can’t do everything immediately and can’t be in 6 places at once. Some tasks will inevitably be delayed; that is more than okay. It takes some self-kindness and patience, but ultimately you’ll be able to get things done much faster, believe me. If you just shift your mindset from “everything must be done now” to “everything will be done in time”, you will ultimately feel much more in control of your to-do list. 

Essentially, that impending sense of doom that you feel when you look at your reminders comes from your perceived urgency, not actual importance, so just make sure to prioritise, focus, manage pressure and accept limits, and you’ll make progress both on that to-do list but also mentally. The goal isn’t to just do more, it’s to think more clearly and be kind to yourself. 

Disclaimer: This content is for informational and reflective purposes only and should not be considered medical or mental health advice.

Written by: Arianna Enserro