Hey Pandas, What One Thing Is Difficult But Should Be Easy? (Closed)

If life came with a user manual, “simple” tasks would actually be simple. You’d breeze through emails, phone calls, bills, social interactions, and adult paperwork like a pro. Instead, many of us stare at a one-line email for 20 minutes, pace around the kitchen before making a phone call, or let an unopened envelope haunt the counter for weeks.

That’s exactly why a Bored Panda prompt like “Hey Pandas, what one thing is difficult but should be easy?” hits such a nerve. It sounds lighthearted, but the answers reveal something big about modern life: a surprising number of everyday tasks are way harder than they look from the outside.

In this Bored Panda–style deep dive, we’ll unpack why apparently easy tasks can feel impossible, share relatable examples that readers would absolutely comment on, and offer science-backed strategies to make those “should be easy” things actually easier. Consider this your gentle, non-judgmental guide to all the weird ways the simplest stuff can trip us up.

Why “Easy” Things Feel So Hard

On paper, some tasks look laughably small: click “pay bill,” call the dentist, reply “Sounds good, thanks!” to an email. But your brain and body don’t always treat them as small. Psychology and mental health research shows that stress, anxiety, executive dysfunction, and mental exhaustion can turn bite-sized tasks into emotionally loaded mountains.

The Executive Function Problem

A lot of “Why can’t I just do this?” moments come down to executive function the mental skill set involved in planning, starting, and finishing tasks. When executive function is struggling (because of ADHD, depression, anxiety, chronic stress, or neurological conditions), even straightforward chores can feel overwhelming.

Executive dysfunction doesn’t mean you’re lazy. It means the mental gears that should help you:

• Break a task into steps
• Decide where to start
• Initiate action
• Stay focused until it’s done

are temporarily jammed. For someone in that state, “just send that email” is about as easy as “just climb that mountain.”

Mental Exhaustion and “Battery at 1%” Mode

Mental health professionals often compare mental exhaustion to a phone battery: when you’ve had too many demands and not enough rest, your brain is simply out of charge. You can still technically function, but even tiny tasks feel like too much not because they’re complicated, but because there’s nothing left in the tank.

Signs of this kind of burnout include:

• Struggling to focus even on “easy” things
• Feeling instantly overwhelmed by small to-do’s
• Dragging out basic tasks like dishes or laundry

In this state, the question isn’t “Why am I so bad at life?” It’s “Why am I being so hard on myself when my brain clearly needs a break?”

Emotions, Anxiety, and Invisible Weight

Studies and clinical observations show that anxiety and mood issues can make everyday chores feel unmanageable. When you’re anxious, sad, or running on chronic stress, your brain’s emotional alarms are already blaring. Adding “call the insurance company” or “talk to your boss” on top of that can feel like overload.

Even when a task is mechanically simple, it may carry emotional weight:

• A phone call may trigger fear of conflict or judgment.
• Opening bills may spark shame or anxiety about money.
• Answering messages may bring up guilt about being “too slow” to respond.

From the outside, it looks like “you’re procrastinating on nothing.” From the inside, it feels like wrestling with an invisible monster.

Everyday Things People Find Difficult (But Should Be Easy)

If you scroll through community discussions, Reddit threads, and Q&A prompts similar to Bored Panda’s “Hey Pandas” questions, you’ll notice the same themes showing up again and again. Here are some of the most common “this should be easy” struggles.

1. Making Phone Calls and Talking to Strangers

Calling to book an appointment, order takeout, or ask a quick question should be simple. But for many people, it’s one of the hardest tasks on their list. Social anxiety, fear of bothering someone, or not knowing what to say can keep you staring at your phone while your brain screams, “Not now, maybe later.”

That’s why you’ll see plenty of people confessing that they’ll do almost anything to avoid making a call including waiting weeks to sort out something that could be fixed in three minutes.

2. Opening Mail and Paying Bills

Another classic: a stack of mail that never quite makes it past the “I’ll open it tomorrow” stage. Financial stress, fear of bad news, or complicated systems (logins, account numbers, multi-step verification) all add friction to what should be a simple action.

In reality, it’s rarely about the envelope. It’s about what the envelope might represent: debt, responsibility, or the possibility of being in trouble.

3. Keeping Up With Chores

Many people find routine chores dishes, laundry, tidying strangely difficult to start and impossible to keep up with. Surveys in the US and UK show that a lot of adults cut corners or leave chores half-finished because there are simply too many competing demands for their time and mental energy.

Chores are repetitive, rarely rewarding, and never truly “done,” which makes them a perfect storm for procrastination and burnout.

4. Sending Simple Emails and Texts

You know the message: “Got it, thanks!” It takes seconds to type but somehow lives in your drafts for days. Here, perfectionism and social anxiety tag-team, turning a basic reply into a performance. You want to sound polite but not stiff, friendly but not weird, clear but not blunt.

So you overthink it and avoid it, and the stress of not having replied yet becomes its own separate problem.

5. Filling Out Forms and Dealing With Bureaucracy

Forms, government portals, healthcare paperwork, insurance claims, school applications all of these are “fill in the boxes, click submit” on the surface. Yet they often involve confusing language, unclear instructions, and high stakes. Get it wrong and your benefits, coverage, or application could be delayed.

When stakes are high and instructions are vague, the task is no longer easy. It’s a stress test.

6. Making Decisions (Even Tiny Ones)

Decision fatigue is real. After a long day of making choices at work or managing a household, deciding what to eat for dinner can feel like the hardest question on Earth. The more options and the more pressure to “choose right,” the heavier the decision feels.

That’s how you end up scrolling through food delivery apps for 40 minutes, too overwhelmed to pick anything.

When “Simple” Tasks Are a Warning Sign

Sometimes, struggling with easy things is just a side effect of a busy week. But when it becomes a pattern, it can be a sign that something deeper is going on.

Mental health resources point out that ongoing trouble with basic tasks getting out of bed, showering, taking medications, eating regular meals, doing minimal housekeeping can be linked to depression, anxiety, ADHD, trauma, chronic illness, or burnout.

That doesn’t mean you’re broken. It means your brain and body are asking for help. If:

• Easy tasks have felt impossible for weeks or months,
• You’re losing interest in things you used to enjoy, or
• You’re experiencing major mood, sleep, or appetite changes,

it’s worth talking with a healthcare or mental health professional. They can help untangle what’s going on and offer tools or treatment so everyday life doesn’t feel like a boss-level video game anymore.

How to Make Hard-Easy Things Actually Easier

The good news: you don’t have to brute-force your way through every task. Productivity and mental health experts suggest a bunch of strategies that work with your brain instead of against it.

1. Break It Into “Task Snacks”

One popular idea in recent productivity research is “task snacking” breaking big or overwhelming tasks into tiny, low-pressure steps you can do in short bursts.

Instead of “clean the kitchen,” your task snacks might be:

• Put dishes in the sink
• Rinse five dishes
• Load the top rack only
• Wipe one counter

Each step is small enough that your brain doesn’t slam on the brakes, and each mini-win gives you a bit of momentum.

2. Use “Dopamine Anchoring”

Another strategy, sometimes called “dopamine anchoring,” pairs a boring or stressful task with something pleasurable: a favorite podcast while you fold laundry, a special drink while you answer emails, or a fun show playing quietly in the background while you clean.

Over time, your brain starts to associate the hard task with a little hit of enjoyment, making it easier to get started instead of dreading it.

3. Make the Start Ridiculously Small

When you feel stuck, shrink the first step until it feels borderline silly:

• “I’ll just open the email app.”
• “I’ll just put the bill on the table and get a pen.”
• “I’ll just dial the number and hang up if I panic.”

Research on workload paralysis suggests that feeling overwhelmed by the full task is what freezes you; focusing on the smallest possible action can unfreeze you.

4. Remove Friction and Decision Fatigue

Make tasks easier by reducing the number of decisions and obstacles involved:

• Use password managers instead of memorizing dozens of logins.
• Set up automatic bill pay where it’s safe and appropriate.
• Prepare simple “default” meals for low-energy days.
• Keep important forms and documents in one labeled folder.

The less thinking you have to do to start, the less likely you are to stall.

5. Get Help From Other Humans

There’s a reason “body doubling” doing tasks alongside someone else, virtually or in person has become a popular strategy in communities dealing with ADHD and executive dysfunction. Sharing time and accountability makes hard tasks feel less lonely and more doable.

That could mean:

• Joining a “focus session” with a friend where you both tackle chores.
• Hiring a professional organizer or coach for the hardest categories (paperwork, finances).
• Asking a trusted friend or family member to sit with you while you make a dreaded call.

Why This Hey Pandas Question Hits Home

The charm of Bored Panda’s “Hey Pandas” prompts is how they turn private struggles into shared stories. A question like “What one thing is difficult but should be easy?” sounds almost like a joke, but the answers often reveal real vulnerability: the person who can’t seem to keep up with laundry, the parent terrified of filling out school forms wrong, the student who dreads asking a simple question in class.

Seeing other people admit, “Yeah, making breakfast feels impossible sometimes,” or “I panic before every phone call,” can be deeply validating if you’ve been quietly wondering what’s wrong with you. The truth is, nothing is “wrong” with you for struggling. Our lives, brains, systems, and emotions are complicated much more complicated than a to-do list makes them look.

The question may be closed on the original thread, but the conversation it sparked is very much alive. Every time someone shrugs and says, “Honestly? Sending a simple email,” they’re answering the same question all over again.

Extra: Real-Life Experiences of Things That Should Be Easy (But Aren’t)

To bring this topic even closer to home, imagine a mini “Hey Pandas” thread full of stories like these. You might see your own experience reflected in one or all of them.

Story 1: The Unsent Two-Line Email

Alex has a perfectly normal office job and handles big projects without blinking. But there’s one email sitting in their drafts that’s been there for a week. It’s just a confirmation to a coworker: “Got your file, I’ll review it by Friday.”

Every time Alex opens the email app, they freeze. “What if I sound rude? What if they think I’m slow? Should I explain why I didn’t reply yesterday? Do I need to apologize?” The overthinking spirals until the email app gets closed, again.

On paper, this is a 20-second task. In Alex’s nervous system, it’s a complicated blend of perfectionism, anxiety, and fear of judgment. Once they finally send it, they feel relief but also confusion: “Why was that so hard?” If you’ve ever stared at a blinking cursor, you know that feeling.

Story 2: The Pile of Laundry That Never Quite Ends

Taylor is juggling kids, work, and a never-ending stream of house chores. The laundry basket never empties. It’s not that Taylor doesn’t know how to do laundry they could practically run a washing machine in their sleep but the task feels endless and thankless.

When Taylor is exhausted, laundry isn’t “one load.” It’s:

• Gathering clothes from different rooms
• Sorting by color and fabric
• Choosing cycles and detergents
• Remembering to move things to the dryer
• Folding or hanging everything
• Putting it all away

That’s not one task. That’s six or seven tasks, all chained together. No wonder it feels enormous, especially after a long day.

Story 3: The Phone Call That Waited Six Months

Jordan has needed to call the dentist for almost half a year. Every week, they say, “I’ll do it tomorrow.” The number is in their phone. The script is in their head: “Hi, I’d like to schedule a cleaning.” But the idea of talking to a stranger, possibly being put on hold, or not knowing what questions they’ll be asked makes Jordan’s heart race.

When they finally call after a friend offers to sit with them while they do it the call takes three minutes. The receptionist is kind. The appointment is booked. The buildup was so much worse than the reality.

That experience is incredibly common for people with social anxiety or past negative customer-service experiences. A small task grows in your mind until it feels impossible. Once you’ve done it, you’re proud but also a little annoyed that no one gives out medals for phone calls.

Story 4: The Messy Room That’s Secretly Overwhelming

Sam’s bedroom looks like a “before” photo on an organizing show: clothes on the floor, half-unpacked boxes, stacks of books, random cables everywhere. Friends joke about it, but for Sam, the mess is a source of shame and paralysis.

Every time they try to clean, Sam looks around and thinks, “I don’t even know where to start.” That thought alone shuts everything down. Their brain can’t find a “first step,” so the whole project stays stuck at zero.

When a friend suggests tackling just one category “Let’s only pick up clothes for 10 minutes” Sam is surprised by how manageable it feels. The mess doesn’t vanish overnight, but suddenly, it’s not an impossible mountain. It’s a series of tiny hills.

Story 5: The Form That Stayed in the Drawer

Casey receives an important health insurance form that needs to be filled out and mailed back. They fully intend to do it. But the language is dense, the instructions are confusing, and they’re worried about making a mistake that could affect coverage.

The form lives in a drawer for weeks, then months. Each day, the guilt gets heavier: “I really should do that.” By the time Casey finally asks for help from a trusted friend or a benefits specialist, the deadline is close and the stress is sky-high.

On the surface, it’s just a form. In reality, it represents money, healthcare, and security. That’s a lot of pressure for a piece of paper. No wonder it didn’t feel easy.

Closing Thoughts: You’re Not Broken Because It Feels Hard

If you were answering the original Bored Panda question “Hey Pandas, what one thing is difficult but should be easy?” what would you say? Making calls? Doing dishes? Saying “no”? Asking for help? Whatever your answer is, you’re in very crowded, very human company.

Modern life asks a lot from our brains: constant decisions, endless notifications, complex systems, and emotional load. When your brain is tired, anxious, overwhelmed, or wired a bit differently, “simple” stops being simple. That doesn’t make you weak; it makes you human in a world that isn’t always designed with human limits in mind.

The next time you’re stuck on something that “should” be easy, try this kinder approach: shrink the task, add support, give yourself permission to be imperfect, and remember that thousands of other people are quietly struggling with the same “easy” things. The question may be closed, but the solidarity is wide open.