5 Tactics to Fight Brain-numbing
College was really hard for me and not for anything that had to do with academics. The simplified reason for this is that I was majorly lonely, overworked, and exhausted for years. To cope with this I did what I like to refer to as mind-numbed (more professional people than me call it buffer behaviors). I shied away from any relationship that was more than surface level; running from people who cared about me. I inhaled meaningless movies, social media content, podcasts, and books that distracted me from my life. I also lost motivation for doing the hobbies and activities that I used to love. It was a low time in my life and now that I am out of that season I can look back and see some ways in which I fought the numbness. The following are 5 tactics that helped me fight brain-numbing:
Have checks in place that you know when you are mind numbing. This will ensure you have to work for the comfort item. For me, I took social media apps off my phone so if I wanted it I had to go to google and log in the long way. This extra step helped me to be honest with myself about how many times a day I reached for my phone to fill me up. Maybe for you it’s not having a television in your bedroom or having alcohol in your house. But having an extra step that you have to go through to get to your mind-numbing activity keeps you accountable to yourself.
Meditation. I know that’s a big word with lots of implications but simply meditation means to focus your attention on something specific or nothing at all! Meditation requires that you still your body and your mind, while focusing on your breathing. Medication is a practice and there is no perfecting it so it can be messy sometimes and that is okay!
Move your body in a gentile manner. Not as punishment or distraction but to get endorphins flowing and being more present in your physical body. I have found yoga to be extremely helpful as it forces me to breathe and focus something besides what’s in my brain. I channeled my thoughts into something that gave me good hormones instead of adding more stress and anxiety.
Talk to someone, don't just shut in on yourself! When I felt myself getting very low, I reached out to my closest friends and asked to get coffee or dinner. Honestly you don’t even have to share with the other person what’s on your mind but being in community has a tendency to break barriers and will definitely make you feel less lonely.
Do something with your hands. There is something about using your hands to create something delicious, beautiful, or nifty. For me it is cooking. To this day, I bake many late night cookies trying to get stuff out of my head or body.
If you find yourself mind-numbing, give yourself grace and time, but also know that moving forward is worth fighting for!
