Last week I had a wonderful creative week, I was totally in the flow, I was feeling good, inspired, excited about my work, loving life, getting to the end of this phase of my book (the 2nd draft read-through and 1st edit)…and because I was so busy galloping towards the finish line, I forgot to notice the signs of mental fatigue.
The tiredness, the slower mental response, difficulty concentrating, finding it harder to perform tasks, the irritability…until I finished sending my new draft to my tablet to read over the weekend and realised my brain was utterly fried! To the extent that I didn’t have the mental capacity left to decide what to have to eat! Needless to say, the read-through I’d planned for the weekend didn’t happen!
Instead, I spent the time (once my brain began to recover) working on extreme mental self-care. Normally mental self-care isn’t something I focus on specifically – I’m normally good at stopping before my brain fries completely, so I had to think (unfortunately) about what I could do to relax, revive and revitalise my poor exhausted brain.
Here’s my Twelve Top Tips for overcoming mental fatigue
1. Patience
Because I can see the finish line of this phase of my book, I’m getting a burst of adrenaline to run helter-skelter to it and damn the consequences. However, a finished book plus a nervous breakdown isn’t the outcome I’m looking for. As much as I am impatient to get it finished NOW, I have to rein in my eagerness and slow down. (even as I write this, I can feel my agitation returning!)
It’s hard for an impatient soul, but I know that I will actually get there faster if I slow down. And as no one is going to shoot me if I’m ‘late’ with this project, I can afford to take it easy, enjoy the process and take excellent care of myself as well as finishing the book this summer. When you’re pushing yourself into mental exhaustion…slow down!
2. Meditation
Aaaah, the silence, the focus on the breath, the peace…ok, my meditations aren’t normally like that. I can’t sit still for long (I’m like a 3 year old in that respect), and I usually need a mantra or visualisation to focus on to allow my brain to slow down. (Like distracting your dog with biscuits so you can get the mud covered toy off her without her noticing.)
The brain needs time to process and re-order. Once you’ve got brain fry, it’s like someone has come into an office and thrown the files all over the place. So you need to allow the brain to do the filing and clear up the mess by just allowing it silence or something to focus on (breath, a visualisation etc). Staring out of the window, watching the sunset, looking at the stars work too – just give your brain a chance to tidy up.
3. Allow nature to restore you
Mother nature has balm for the heart soul and mind – listen to the birds sing, watch the clouds, watch the wind in the trees, walk in the woods or the park. Much like meditation, this gives the weary brain a chance to switch off and get some rest.
4. Take lots of naps
This is advice for life generally, but especially important when your brain is fried. Brain work is tiring. Creative work can take a lot out of you. Give yourself the time to switch off, snooze and heal. I napped a lot over the weekend, because I was tired! When the mind is frazzled, it filters through to the body. If you need a nap, and you can take one, do.
5. Candlelight solo dance party
I used to go to a dance event nearby which was 2 hours of dancing. No booze, no talking, no fighting off drunken would-be suitors, just dancing. As it was held on a Friday, I really noticed after a mentally challenging week how much better my brain felt after having been given time to move my body and not have to talk or think.
Unfortunately I haven’t been able to go to the event for a while, but I created my own version – the candlelit solo dance party. One candle, a playlist on random…and dance. Aaaah, and I could feel my brain start to relax, I could feel myself shaking off the exhausted energy and rejuvenating as I danced. Dancing is magic…as is music. Put your favourite music on, sing along if you don’t want to dance, and let it heal you.
6. Friend time
Tempting as it is to retreat into my cave and stick the ‘danger! Hermit!’ sign on the entrance, I know it actually helps mental fatigue to spend time with friends, talk it out, hear about things unrelated to my work and my book, and have a break from the latest project…and have a laugh! So, I got in touch with friends and arranged to see them and have a laugh and a chat. More brain relaxation…lovely!
7. Take a tech-break
I sucked at this at the weekend, mainly because I came up with this article and because my brain is fatigued, I felt I needed to write it before it leaked away! (A sign of muddled thinking – once I’d captured the gist of the idea, I didn’t need to do the whole thing until my brain power came back.) But in the end it was a gift because I noticed that as soon as I switched on the tech, my brain fatigue came back…so once I’d done what I needed to, I switched off. (and hopefully that lesson will stick next time and I’ll remember before switching on that it’s a bad idea.)
With the information overload that is available every time we switch on a computer or tablet or even phone, it’s no wonder many of us feel mentally overdosed regularly! Switch off when you can and give your brain a break.
8. Write
This article has been part of that for me – as I experience things, I like to write about them – it helps my clients and subscribers, and it helps me to not only process what’s going on and figure out what I need to DO, it also helps me to remember it next time (and if I don’t, I won’t have to think next time because I’ll be able to drag out this article!)
I also do the morning pages every day which drains my brain of all the many, many thoughts swirling around and gives me some space to mentally breathe. Writing for me is another magic ‘pill’ – it works for so many things, including brain-fry. Not only does it help empty my mind and process my thoughts, it shows me when my brain is still a bit tired…because just the act of doing the morning pages tired me out!
9. Laugh
On Friday evening, when my brain was still fairly fried, I started to watch a Senior Gentlemen’s Invitational Doubles match – great tennis with banter and a bit of comedy thrown in. If you get a chance, check out Mansour Barhami and Henri Leconte – comedy tennis, my new favourite thing. Anyway, after watching an hour or so of comical tennis, my brain felt better! Again, laughter is like a magic pill, curing so many ills!
10. Yoga
Any exercise, really, will do the trick – I personally like yoga – especially the balances, for calming the mind and alleviating mental fatigue. The main thing is to take the focus off making your brain do all the work, and getting the body to do the work instead. Just a few minutes of yoga can cure mental fatigue for me…as long as it hasn’t gone into brain fry! Once we’re in brain-fry mode, it takes more body movement to help heal the brain…but it’s a great part of the prescription. It really works.
11. Take time off
If you have a little mental fatigue, you can just take a 15 minute pep-me-up break and come back to work refreshed, but if your brain is totally frazzled, this is not going to work! And in case you are thinking ‘but I have to work’, ask yourself “do you really?”
Given that trying to continue working with serious mental fatigue is ineffective, inefficient, and actually dangerous – it’ll make you ill eventually, physically if not mentally, as well as making you irritable, unable to concentrate, and ‘foggy’. You are actually better off taking some time off to recharge than trying to forge ahead with only 23% or less of your brain capacity available.
12. Add to your storehouse of knowledge
Mental fatigue and brain-fry are not one off occurrences. They happen again and again – often with a few months in between, sometimes with only a few days or weeks in between. The more you can notice your mental fatigue EARLY and make time for mental self-care quickly, the less you will find yourself completely frazzled and with your brain exploding!
The warning signs are there – my brain feels like it actually aches – like a muscle I’ve pulled. I get irritable, I can’t focus as well or as easily, I feel tired and de-energised. And often, I’m in ‘get ‘er done’ mode, instead of ‘flow mode’. The difference is, in flow I am just creating, writing, loving it, energised, happy, not caring how much I’m getting done or need to do, just totally in the moment.
In ‘get ‘er done’ mode I’m forcing myself to work, getting tired, feeling my energy ebb away, tense, wanting to reach some milestone or goal, with my mind mostly in the future. Once you know these signs and symptoms you can look out for them, and make sure you don’t overdo it…because it takes longer to recover from brain fry than it does to prevent it!
So there you have it, my prescription for healing brain fry! Ultimately, it’s all about listening to the messages of your body, mind, heart and soul and taking EXCELLENT care of yourself. It kind of freaks me out what we’ll put ourselves through in order to not be considered weak or lazy or not as good as the next person who is making themselves ill pushing themselves too hard!
And if you have anything to add to the list, anything I might add to my brain fry toolkit, I’d love to hear it…
Love
Donna.x