Finding Calm Through Simplification

Midlife often arrives not as a crisis, but as a convergence. A season when hormonal changes meet shifting identities, evolving family roles, and a mounting sense of invisible responsibility.

Many women describe this experience as mental clutter: a constant hum of unfinished thoughts, to-do lists, and emotional load that never seems to quieten. It’s not just a feeling; it’s a physiological state that keeps the nervous system in overdrive. As the Jean Hailes Foundation (2024) highlights, many women in their forties and fifties experience an increased sense of overwhelm, not due to weakness or lack of organisation, but because of legitimate neurological and hormonal shifts.

During perimenopause and midlife, when oestrogen naturally fluctuates, this stress response can feel amplified. Oestrogen helps regulate neurotransmitters like serotonin and GABA, both of which influence calmness and clarity. When it dips, the brain becomes more reactive to stress, making clutter, mental or otherwise, feel heavier than before.

The University of Queensland (2023) found that the high cognitive load of juggling too many tasks or maintaining excessive mental to-dos, directly increases perceived stress and reduces cognitive flexibility. Put simply, the more we try to hold information in our heads, the less room we have for focus, creativity, and rest. Mental clutter can activate the brain’s stress circuits in the same way physical clutter agitates the body, keeping cortisol levels elevated and the mind perpetually “on.”

The solution isn’t to “do more efficiently.” It’s to do less intentionally. Simplification is not about shrinking your life; it’s about creating space to live it.

How can you look to create some space in your life? Start small.

1. Clear your workspace before opening your laptop.

2. Schedule fewer commitments in your week.

3. Block ten quiet minutes each morning to plan your day rather than rushing straight into reaction mode.

These small acts of structure signal safety to the body, the opposite of the constant urgency many of us have learned to normalise.

The Burned-out carer embodies this challenge. Between work, caregiving, and managing a household, she often feels trapped in mental chaos. When she begins to practice a simple daily ritual, writing down the three most important things she could do that day, and letting the rest go, her sense of control and calm will slowly return. Clarity will begin not from addition, but from subtraction.

We see simplicity as a sacred act of self-respect. When you choose to clear the noise even for a few moments each day you’re not just tidying your environment; you’re nurturing your mind’s capacity for calm, focus, and renewal.

Clarity begins with subtraction. Each choice to simplify is an act of self-respect.

Science Snapshot

University of Queensland (2023) Cognitive Load and Stress Reduction. [Online] Available at: https://www.uq.edu.au

Jean Hailes Foundation (2024) Simplifying Life in Midlife. [Online] Available at: https://www.jeanhailes.org.au

Beyond Blue (2023) Mental Overload and Stress Management. [Online] Available at: https://www.beyondblue.org.au

Harvard Health (2022) The Benefits of Simplification. [Online] Available at: https://www.health.harvard.edu