I know exactly what it’s like to be addicted to constant overstimulation and information – the kind that has you reaching for the phone as soon as you have a single minute of a break, to reach deliberately for the very things that are draining your energy, cluttering your brain, and leaving your soul restless. I reached a point where I could not open Instagram anymore without being pulled into an hour of doomscrolling and watching videos that brainrotted my brain deeply and left me with the numb feeling of nothingness.
So I deeply craved a calmer base, some peace in my head instead of the nonstop noise that had become my default background soundtrack. But here’s the thing: I was so busy and distracted, I didn’t even notice how distracted I was. And let me tell you, this kind of overstimulation is robbing you of your life while you´re watching and while yo´re even offering the thief „hey, don´t you want my money on top as well?“.
This whole thing came to a peak when I became a working mom. And I have a feeling this is a pretty common tipping point. Many of us dive into motherhood with brains already cluttered, anxious, and maxed out. When social expectations, an empty battery and the urge to be yourself again and go to work become just too much altogether. For me, that tipping point was very painful, but it was also the catalyst I needed to radically change my life.
Hi, my name is Uta. I am a German Entrepreneur, living with my Family in the US and I´m here to help you save more and make more by using the things and the talents you already have, so that we can all live a more meaningful life and hopefully retire in 10-20 years.
This channel is all about finding a realistic, minimialistic lifestyle that allows you to live your life on your own terms. And today I want to share some things I did to eliminate that constant overstimulation so many of us face – things that helped me find more peace, joy, and presence in my everyday life as a mom.
1. The Screen Time Fast That Saved My Sanity
I decided just recently, that I needed an extreme change. Around the time my second born son turned two I decided to go no contact with streaming services and my beloved Trash-TV (it really took me a while to get off my addiction for Love is Blind and Temptation Island). No Netflix. No mindlessly watching the latest Trash TV Gossip on Youtube in the background on my iPad while I was cooking. I even turned off the radio while I was driving my kids to school – the constant noise was poison for your brain. So I just turned everythung off and enjoyed the silence of my own thoughts.
I realized that I often used entertainment as a sort of comforting myseld. Other people’s lives sometimes seemed more interesting than mine (or I felt better, because I seemed to have it more together than the people portrayed in the Trash TV shows). Now in hindsight I feel like I´ve cluttered my brain with new information, another podcast, another show – so that I didn´t have to reflect about my own problems.
Plus: I started to realize, how much my screen time habits were altering my perception of life. Constant exposure to perfect influencer bodies and faces, beautiful actresses and all those unneccesary beauty hacks on TikTok made me feel insecure. I started thinking: Maybe I need a nose job? Maybe I should buy this new tool to make my skin glowier? It made ordinary life, my ordinary but healthy body feel… mediocre andnot fancy enough. Mundane moments suddenly seemed uninteresting, like they didn’t measure up to the dazzling, unrealistic worlds on my screen.
Removing that hyper-stimulating, over-the-top content was like retraining my brain to notice the subtle beauty of the “real world.” Seeing the beauty in my kids and my husband, even though they were not wearing matchy-matchy clothes or were all dolled up, enjoying my lunch bowl even though it didnt look like a cookbook picture. Within a month, everyday moments became more thrilling again and I felt deep contentment again. I slept better, I felt better, I had less anxiety. Tiny things, like doing watercoloring with my son, were suddenly magical.
2. Social Media: Out, Out, Out
„We are spending more time consuming other peoples lifes instead of creating our own.“
After seeing the radical shift from screen time in general very fast, I knew I needed to address social media. I had danced around it for years and I knew this moment would inevitably come. I already did a lot of „weekend breaks, downloaded all the apps…but it was never enough. It was always like a dry alcoholic sitting in front of a whiskey that know deep inside that it would be better to just step out of the bar. So I finally stepped out of the bar and finally quit entirely.
I knew it was time to delete social media (to be fair, I still use it sometimes, but now intentionally on the desktop within certain time frames), when I realized I wasn´t fully present anymore with my kids and started to see them as a distraction from my screen time. So Social Media took away the most precious things for me: Spending time with my family, giving and receiving love and doing what I really love and filled the void with mindless short form videos that gave me the constant feeling of not being enough. Not a very good trade off if you ask me. Quitting allowed me to be fully present with my husband and kids, appreciating their little interruptions instead of feeling annoyed that my feed had paused.
When you are only scrolling you don´t experience anything cool in real life and when somebody you haven´t seen in a while is asking you „Hey, how has life been? What were you doing the last couple of months?“ you can only say – I don´t know, I watched the „chicken banana video 30 times and maybe sent my friends some … cat videos?“ Or even worse. After some time there won´t be friends asking you anymore.
3. Simplifying My Physical Space
For me, overstimulation didn´t just come from screens, it was also physical. Inheriting an old farm house with a lot of stuff in it and inheriting a lot of stuff from my deceased grandparents, merging my husbands and my household, becoming parents… For years, our home felt cluttered and „too much“. I called it „optical noise“, it was just too much stuff to take care of. So one day I decided I need to let go not just of my mental clutter, but also of my physical clutter. I decluttered 50% of our belongings (here is a video of me explaining how I did it, it´s in German) before we moved to the US and now I have one of those homes that might look a little bit too beige and gray, but is very calm for the eye and the mind and I started actually enjoying my space. I started to cut flowers from the yard and poured some TLC into my home in a way I never had before. What was once overstimulating became peaceful, beautiful, and intentional and even creative.
4. Slowing Down: Less Hustle, More Life
I used to glorify being a busy, working, self-employed mom. I was always overscheduled, overcommitted, constantly “productive” and felt bad just laying on the couch. I wanted to be everything: A good mom, a successful business woman, a good and feminine wife, saving the environment AND have some time for myself and for my friends – because that´s what we see online all the time, right? Spoiler: That doesn´t work and all the people you see only wanting to make you believe they are having it all together? Another spoiler: in 99% they have it not. So packing every day with playdates, projects, work and new hobbies? It turns out I was robbing myself and my family of the present, funny and happy version I once was.
Now, I intentionally balance going out with doing nothing. I started to bake again – with my son. Even though it lasts 2 hours instead of 30 minutes, I started to enjoy it. And I’ve added creative and outdoorsy hobbies that make me feel connected with nature and myself – like gardening, kayaking, I started to go running again… These moments were all super ordinary and maybe „boring“ to some people, but they’re also profoundly enriching and I started to find joy in the simpleness of a dragonfly flying around my kayak. And: I started to see the impact on my kids. They are thriving and love to accompany me to my adventures. Their meltdowns decreased and they became super cool, empathic and curious individuals instead of being glued to the TV so mama can watch Instagram reels.
5. The Big Picture: Mindful Consumption
Whether it’s entertainment, apps, or purchases, I started to ask myself: How does it make me feel? If it doesn’t align with my values: family, sustainability, love, tolerance and acceptance, presence – it doesn’t make the cut. Choose wisely, which emotions you let in your life. During my intense social media consumption time I would go through 17 different emotions within less than 5 minutes – joy, fear, empathy, guilt, jealousy….. That is exhausting for the nervous system which can normally process only 1 emotion properly in 20 minutes and gets us numb as a result.
I’m far from perfect. I haven’t “arrived” yet and I am still a work in progress. But even just the awareness of the „too muchness“ in my life and how to switch it off again was an absolute gamechanger for me.
Conclusion: The Beauty of a “Boring” Life
Embracing a boring life isn’t about deprivation or loss. It’s about clarity. Presence. Peace. When I eliminated the constant stimulation from this loud world, I discovered richness in ordinary moments, deeper relationships, and a calmer, more intentional life.
If you’re ready to actually listen to yourself again, I encourage you to experiment with your own noice cancelling challenge. Maybe it’s a TV fast, a social media detox, decluttering your home, or immersing yourself in creative and outdoorsy hobbies. You might just be amazed at how exciting “ordinary” can really be.
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