Your gluey eyes resist opening. Most of the night, you watched the clock tick away each painful minute. Finally, you drift into the coziest sleep as the wake up alarm sounds…for the snuggly, intertwined blankets into an upright position.
Before your feet hit the floor, that extra half hour in bed means less time to get ready for your day. You’re already dreadfully behind on planned to-dos. Maybe if everything executes smoothly, you’ll knock out the most urgent stuff, at the very least. Wishful thinking. That’s not the story for the hours ahead.
Why is it the fewer hours of sleep, the higher the chances of bottlenecks and catastrophes gumming up your day?
Photo from Pixabay by Stevepb
Every ounce of energy feels like fighting the forces of your universe. Why is it the fewer hours of sleep, the higher the chances of bottlenecks and catastrophes gumming up your day? And the less emotionally and physically resourced to get you through without a complete breakdown. Things that should take mere seconds turn into deep, dark rabbit holes consuming multiple hours and far more stamina and focus than you can muster. Before noon, your brain is frazzled, your body is exhausted. You’re ready to return to bed. You can’t. Your calendar is tight. Your to-do list is unending. Others are depending on you to deliver. If every action will be this taxing, how will you even get one more thing started? Finishing is unthinkable.
Is It Just Me?
It may not seem like it, but no doubt those with neurotypically-defined brains have wonky days too. All humans encounter off days whether internally induced (insomnia, physical ailments, et. al) or externally instigated (sick child, car accident, disagreement with a partner, reprimand at work). While I don’t have any actual data to back up my presumption, based on my own personal experience and witnessing the day ins and outs of my clients, an average day for someone navigating amidst brain-based challenges, is far more grueling, fatiguing, wearying than for their neurotypical counterparts. Making decisions on an uncomplicated day is confounding. Steering your brain toward what to do when there is an endless pit of expectations, choices, and uncertainties is downright horrible. In my observations, sensitive souls take mental beatings harder. Recovery time to readjust takes noticeably longer. You’re not imagining it, the more challenges, and with greater levels of severity, the harder it is to move forward.
Defining Brain-Based Challenges (My Synopsis)
What do I mean by brain-based challenges? In this case, I’m referring to any diagnosed or suspected impairments to cognitive and emotional functioning.
Adult ADHD, bi-polar syndrome, autism spectrum disorders, anxiety, depression, hypersensitivities are just a few examples.
Conditions that embody symptoms which interfere with thinking, perceiving, processing, rationalizing, executing; mood regulation, and sustained focus.
These executive function abilities are managed by the prefrontal cortex area of the brain. Imagine if your prefrontal cortex operates much like your sideways day or seemingly fails to operate at all. Lack of focus. Slow or no decision-making. Low or no action. Wild emotional vacillations. Impulsive choices. Not only is your day presenting impediments, your brain won’t get on board to help you find a way to pause the spiraling.
Like Water Off a Human’s Back
It may seem inconceivable that some people are blessed with an ability to let things slide off their back. Not for you. Hypervigilance, hypersensitivities immediately alert you to the sideways pummeling. With each blow, it gets harder and harder to recover and direct yourself back on track. First you have to set things right (wipe up spilt juice, find and apply stain remover to your new coffee-stained work blouse, clean up the cat’s hairball trails). When emotions are ramped as a result of running behind, too many distractions, confusion irritability, assuredly cognitive abilities are likely to go offline. If executive functioning has gone AWOL, how do you figure out what you were about to do before you got waylaid? If your energy has been zapped, how do you gather the oomph to do the next thing? How do you remember what that next thing was?
Time to Reboot
Here are some things you can try to remap your way.
Write down everything that you can think of that you had planned for today or wanted to address. Can’t remember it all? No problem, just write, doodle, type whatever you do recall. With these ideas in hand, you’ll have something to turn to as time and energy allow. Can’t think of even one thing? Give it some time. To-dos are likely to reveal themselves one way or another like a text asking “where is this deliverable?“
If listing all the expectations out stresses you out further, keep the list short. Include only the 1-2 most urgent or critical items. Let the rest sit until you have the bandwidth to deal.
If you’re really spinning, stop what you’re doing. Take a walk. Grab a shower. If you’re in the office, head to the bathroom or an empty stairway. Somewhere you can roll your shoulders, breathe, spin in circles, whatever works for you. If you have no idea what that is, shake. Shaking is a great way to release pent up swirling energy or reinvigorate when listless. I also turn to videos such as this qi gong exercise to rebalance my flailing system.
If you find yourself in a momentary or prolonged doom and gloom cycle, change the brain channel. So much easier said than done. Worth a shot though. Face it, not much will get done otherwise.
Take a mental health day unless every day is another MH day. If you haven’t had a day off from work and household chores, give yourself a reset break.
Dodge the darkness. A mental health hiatus includes a break from the news and social media scrolling. Turn off and tune out of the doom-scrolling. Those are sure-fire ways to implode your emotional reserves unless funny cat or dog videos reset your brain. Also, excuse yourself from difficult people or situations too until you feel resourced enough to adeptly deal.
Sitting too long worsens brain fog and ruminating thoughts. If moving feels too hard, go for a quick potty break just to loosen the emo-cycle a tad.
When was the last time you ate something with protein? Sipped a hydrating beverage? Taken your meds? Sugar is typically not recommended as an inevitable sugar crash will set you further behind, tank your mood, and further wipe out energy. Caffeine can be hit or miss. Carefully assess whether it boosts your energy and focus or frazzles your nerves and body’s thermostat.
If you can spare just a few minutes, allow yourself to mindfully do something that will feed your dopamine or brain’s pleasure centers. Set a timer to keep you accountable and on track. The hit may pick up your spirits and energy levels to propel you forward. If you get lost in it for too long, you likely won’t feel great if you fall much further behind. Like everything in life, balance is key!
Keep in mind you’re the expert of you. Play around with ideas, hack, techniques. Mold them, build upon them to suit your preferences and needs. Toss out the complete duds, then try something new. No need to feel discouraged if winners for other people aren’t feeding your soul. We all share similarities, we’re all unique too.
