My brain has been VERY jumbled for the past few days.
On top of all of the things going on in the world as a whole, several friends are going through some heavy things so I am trying to be there for them, and, of course, I have some very ordinary (but still quite present) brain-jumbling stresses:
There was a mix-up with my prescription for my ADHD meds and I had to do without them for three days, I had a migraine, my back and my knee were both giving me trouble, I had a lot of finicky-detail work to do, we’ve had a lot of the kind of wind that puts my nerves on edge, and, through no fault of my own, all kinds of small things have gone awry in ways that required me to do a lot of back-and-forth to get them fixed.
By today (Monday), my brain had just noped out.
It would only do what absolutely HAD to be done and even some of that was kind of a hard sell.
Luckily, while puttering this morning, I came across a note-to-self from a while back that said, “If you can’t do your work, give yourself permission to play. No point in just being annoyed, might as well make something fun.”
My brain felt kind of thick and stubbornly refused to suggest anything to make but then I found a YouTube video by Amy Tangerine called “1000+ pages in journals done with one simple trick” in which she invites the viewer to gather their supplies and make something while she talks.
So I made this. It’s not finished – it needs something horizontal and somewhat rectangular to go over the spot where the dark blue meets the light blue there in middle near the bottom. I haven’t found the right thing yet, but I will.
Focusing on that small creative project helped a lot but it occurred to me that I have been feeling extra jumbled quite often lately and I have saved quite a few things that seemed helpful.
So, I thought I would share them with you in case you have been feeling extra jumbled lately, too.
Remember that the goal of all of this isn’t to push away our feelings or to pretend that everything is fine all the time. This is all about trying to create space for us to deal with stress, with our emotions (and with all of the damn things that are cluttering up our brains) in a way that is more effective and less overwhelming.
Now, speaking of overwhelming, please don’t make the mistake that I tend to and attempt to try everything here all at once or all in one day.
Just pick one thing that has some appeal and see how it feels.
Give it a real chance though, at least a few minutes. Sometimes when I feel jumbled, I expect instant results and then I kind of hop from attempted solution to attempted solution without really getting into any of them.
Guess what? That makes me even MORE jumbled and then I get annoyed, which is not a good combination.
Anyway, here are some of the things I am keeping on hand for my own jumbled brain. I hope they help and/or they inspire you to create your own resource list.
I wish you ease, my friends.
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Here’s a video from Yoga with Adriene that I find quite soothing:
And this guided meditation for stress relief is helpful:
And you know I am a fan of this breathing exercise to calm anxiety – I’m sure I have posted it a dozen times!
These tips from Anna the Anxiety Coach on Instagram have a lot to recommend them:
The Shabby Creek Cottage posted some excellent advice in this series called ‘How to Calm Your Ass Down’:
This journaling video has some good ideas as well.
And, finally, I’ve heard that ‘heavy work’ exercises can be helpful. A young friend of mine was told that taking action when anxiety strikes can help ground you in your body. They were advised to do squats, to push hard on the wall, or to carry something heavy up and down the stairs and it really seemed to help them in the moment. Here’s more advice on that topic.
Feel free to add your own suggestions in the comments.
