Sometimes, at the gym, I’ll do a cycle class. Maybe if you are familiar with much cooler exercise places, they may call is spin. And maybe if you’re cooler again, you have a Peloton. Though that is relevant. What I am wanting to get to, is the idea of ‘flushing it out’. Perhaps this is something sponsored lists suggests you do to toxins in your body, or what some people are using IV drips for. In the context of cycle, we are encouraged to flush it out after we have done a particularly arduous track. This means, we remove quite a few gears and cycle at quicker pace. It feels as if we have gone from trekking in mud to swinging our legs off a pier.
At this point, our instructor will say ‘flush those legs out’. What ‘it’ is, I don’t know. Is it lactic acid? Someone will have the answer. But in that moment, regardless, I know that the pain is over.
I have reflecting on this idea of flushing it out, a quick detoxing, regarding my mind and the rate and volume of media I consume.
Because I feel full and fuzzy and like the consumption is out of mindless habit as opposed to active decision making.
I don’t have some sanctimonious list for you to undertake if you are feeling the same way. But I feel like the word sanctimonious is one of those words that sounds like it means. Maybe I’m confused because it just sounds wanky.
Anyway, I’m trying to create space between the scrolling, the TV, the reading, the listening, the YouTube, and the Pinterest. The constant stimulation.
Media circuits, as we know can be hard to curate, but the things that come more easily, are the things that tend to allow us to escape without even realising. That common feeling of picking up your phone, scrolling for half an hour, and forgetting what it was you wanted to do.
When I started feeling like this, my natural inclination was to read about mental capacity and brain overload. I tried to drive to work with no music on, but that was just weird. I even thought about suggesting to my partner that we don’t watch TV for a night. But that feels like eating pasta without cheese. Will do, if necessary, but not the preference.
Instead, I’ve been listening to podcasts, something I haven’t done in ages. Journaling whenever I feel like it and not just before bed. I unsubscribed from newsletter as I always delete instead of reading, or newsletters that send me down an unhelpful internet hole. I’ve been reading till I don’t want to, and not worrying about my sleep. And then reading a non-fiction book and underlining things and using post-its. Just to slow myself down.
Maybe I do have a sanctimonious list after all.
What do you do when your brain feels too full?