For the last several months I have felt an overwhelming sense of “too much.” Apart from the obvious and completely horrific state of the world right now, we have 716 passwords to remember, online school schedules rivaling that of a Fortune 500 CEO, countless summer projects being planned and budgeted, the dreaded tax season for two small businesses…
I hate to complain but for a time when we are all apparently doing ‘nothing’, I sure feel like my brain is full! As a result, I have been forgetting a lot of things lately. It’s like the filing system that is my brain, ran out of space and hasn’t been able to process any new information.
Now here is one of the great frustrations of life…
I can’t remember a chiropractic appointment I’ve booked but don’t worry, I can still recall my childhood best friend’s phone number, the 12 digits of my water meter number and the timecard password for a job I had when I was 17. I can’t remember that it is garbage day but never fret, I can recall the grade I got in Intro to Psych and what I ate at a wedding in 2012. Did you forget the one item you went to the grocery store for? Me too! But I happily can describe for you, in great detail, a Nordic sweater my Grade 3 teacher wore. SO.INCREDIBLY.USELESS!
Since I can’t seem to free up any space I am wasting with all this pointless information (do you need to know the phone number for the Blockbuster Video that hasn’t been in town for 15 years? Here you go: 705-444-2533 ), I’ve concluded that what I can do is limit new information I am bringing into my filing system. So I thought it was time to shut down my ‘inbox’ – at least temporarily. Here are a few things I have done over the past few months that have helped:
- Unsubscribed to a whole bunch of emails
- Blocked out 4 uninterrupted hours a week to deal with paperwork
- Consistently meal planned
- Sat down with my agenda (and the MM man’s) and planned out all major projects (professionally and personally) until the end of the summer
- Moved my phone to the kitchen at bedtime
- Cut down on Zoom meetings AND emails. Often a phone call is more efficient.
- Drastically changed my expectations around virtual learning
- Removed all News apps from my phone and set aside specific times to ‘catch up’
I feel lighter and my brain has significantly more space. Have I missed information? Likely, but let’s be honest, I was going to forget about it anyways!
Maybe implementing everything I did won’t work for you – but I would encourage you to think of one thing you can do this week to free up some space in your brain. Let me know what you come up. And if you have any advice on removing Baby Houseman’s riveting monologue to her dad in “Dirty Dancing” from my brain, I’ll gladly hear you out because I sure could use that space!
xo mm
