Like I said yesterday, I went viral on Threads by having a story that people really related to. That sounds like living the dream. In reality, it can create an unexpected mental load that you probably don’t want to deal with.

So what do you do when you’re feeling pressed and stressed?

Using tools from your already existing mental health toolbox is already the best first step, but to be honest, it just might not be enough in this case. When things are flying at you from all directions (as it tends to do when a post goes viral), you probably need to protect your mental health even more and be even more mindful of that.

So how do you get started?

Prioritize

Look, you’re not going to get everything done in this case. Every comment is probably not going to get answered, and you just won’t be the amazing social media manager you normally are. This is all likely temporary (and if it’s not, then you need to start the conversation of getting more help). You will get back to being that superstar you were.

In the meantime, it’s time to get prioritizing.

For comments, you want to deal with a few different types before you get to the others, because you don’t have the option to walk away and stop responding like I did. The first group you want to deal with are the great positive comments, especially those who add something to the post. Keep in mind that any comment you interact with will end up being seen by more people, which is why you really need to prioritize some of the positive ones so people don’t just see the negative comments.

Then you move onto the inflammatory or just plain wrong comments. Reply to what you need to and hide what you can. You don’t have to hit every single negative comment. This is a case where if you spent some good time community building before this viral post, your community should take care of these kinds of comments for you. Just make sure you get to the ones that could have the most negative impact on your brand.

And then prioritize your workload as well. What do you really need to do to keep the lights on? Make sure that gets done and then do anything else only if you have the time. Once again, this is not the time to do your best work and add to that mental load. It’s okay to just survive for now and get back to do something amazing later.

Make time to rant

Now that we’ve prioritized our work, let’s start looking at what will lessen that mental load.

When a post goes viral, you’ll likely bring out the weird people who just want to be negative to be negative. Those comments are not fun to read.

My way of dealing with these kind of people may not be the most constructive, but it helps me move on: I rant. I rant hard. After I get all of my feelings out about what that person said, I feel better and then get back to work in a better mindset.

Find a person who will listen to your rants confidentially. It’s a bit like therapy, but really, you’re just going for the short-term better feeling so you can get back to work. So no need for this to be constructive. In other words, the job of this person is to listen, not to try to make things better. In this case, do not rant to someone who wants to make things better. Nobody is trying to make anything better right now. They’re just trying to get through. Find someone who will nod along as you plan terrible things and then will say, “Probably for the best,” as you scrap all of those terrible things you planned.

Work in breathing breaks

If you just keep going and going and going, you’re going to break. And you never know how that break will come out.

Protect yourself and your brand by leaning into quick things that will keep you centered. These will have longer lasting effects than ranting, although it may seem less satisfying. But you have to work on the long-term fixes as well as the quick fixes if you want to get through this.

Breathe work and meditating are simple activities you can do between tasks, and they have the benefit of relaxing you. That means you can get back to neutral even faster. But also, they protect you from some of the headache of those negative comments by giving you some perspective. In the case of a post going viral, getting as much perspective as possible is a good thing.

But it doesn’t have to be breathe work or meditation. Maybe it’s a quick walk around the block. Maybe it’s listening to a favorite song. Whatever will bring some zen into your life is good. You need to make time for it one way or another.

Take the mental load off in other areas of life

I’m the first one to think that saying this is laughable. I have to clean my house, I have to make sure my daughter is taken care of, I have to cook so we all have something to eat, and so on and so on. That home life mental load is always going to be a lot. But when you combine it with the mental load of work, especially when a post starts going viral, it can crush you. Something has to give.

Ask your partner to take on a little more. Have a family member or friend step in where they can. Throw some money at a person who can clean your house. When everything is coming at you from all sides, this is the time to lean on the community you have built at home.

At work, you need to have a quick chat with your supervisor to tell them what you can reasonably get done. Let them know that this is temporary. But you can’t possibly get everything done right now when you have something with much bigger legs than one person can handle. Most bosses will understand this. If they don’t, it’s time to be sniffing around for a new job.

I’ve said this so many times, but the biggest thing to keep in mind is that it is temporary. So keep that in mind as you wade through it and do what you can. Leave the rest for later when you don’t have five thousand things flying at you.

What has helped you with the mental load of going viral?