What do I do when monitoring protocols and data feel overwhelming?

When the protocols and the data pile up, of course you feel buried. You are looking at the whole mountain at once. No one reads all of it in one sitting and feels calm. The overwhelm is a sign of scale, not of your ability. The way through is to shrink the field. You do not need to master every protocol today. You need the next one. Pick a single measurement or a single procedure and learn it until it feels ordinary. Then add one more. The overwhelm fades as the pile turns into a set of familiar steps. Start tomorrow with one protocol written on a card in plain words you understand. Follow it, and let the rest wait its turn. A big job done small is still done.