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Wednesday, October 14, 2015

Sharpen it up!


In life there are times where you find yourself fighting to stay on top of it all. Moments where time seems fleeting and your attention is stretched between a million different people, activities, and moments. For me this has been true since school started.

I find myself, mentally, physically, and emotionally stretched thin between all of the things that need to be done and the things that I want to do. Prioritizing effectively is not one of my skills and as I have gotten older this has become more apparent to me. Since I re-entered the classroom, added Cheerleading Coach to my resume again, along with my most important jobs of being a wife and a mom--some days there are just not enough brain cells to make it all run smoothly.

I am not one of those women who has it all together. I don't claim to have great organization skills and it is EXTREMELY scary how little I remember dates (especially since I teach history). Lately, I find it hard to remember what the date is--is the it 14th or 15th? Is it Monday or Tuesday--Please god, let it be Friday. Add in late night cheerleading practices, weekend competitions, the occasional make-up job on a Sunday--and there is nothing left up there but one exhausted subconscious just trying to hold on for dear life.

Is it a personality flaw? ADD? Pregnancy brain that just never went away? I don't know--but I need some mental sharpening quick! I mean, stat!

Have you ever experienced this feeling: you are talking to someone and you know exactly what you want to say. The word you want to say is in your head, but you cannot physically get the word out. It is there and you can say it perfectly, but it gets stuck up there somewhere and you just end up awkwardly pausing until it magically unsticks itself. It's like being held prisoner to your own mind.

I used to experience this every once in awhile. But now it happens daily, and sometimes multiple times a day. I know what I want to say, but it takes me several seconds to be able to get the exact wording out. It is humiliating and is starting to scare me a bit.

Whatever the reason--I am really trying to be more present in my everyday life. I'm trying to concentrate more on my words and sentences. I am trying to write down my tasks for each day of the week. Along with important dates--so that way I don't forget something really important because I don't realize what day it is. I never had to write things down in years past. I just remembered in my mental calendar. Well, those days are long gone. Maybe I'm just getting old.

Anywho--I read up on ways to exercise your brain--yes, you heard it right. So I am going to start trying to do a few of these suggestions. In fact, I am doing one right now.

1. practice deep breathing--how often do you really take deep breaths. I never do, but I am going to start trying to give that brain more oxygen.

2. Journaling--see, y'all are helping me right now!

3. Use your non-dominant hand for every day tasks--like brushing your teeth or hair. It forces you to concentrate more.

4. Learn a new skill or hobby--I'm working on this one

5. Get outside, and get moving--this one is going to tougher, but it is good for me, so I will have to try.

How do you keep your mind sharp?

Happy Hump Day!

1 comment:

  1. Gosh this sounds just like my life. I never know the date or the day of the week lately!

    ReplyDelete