Mental Upgrade

What began as a joke--a brain upgrade--transformed into a project!  While of course I cannot physically change my brain I became intrigued with the idea of taking steps to improve its function.  The current drag isn't emotional, it isn't spiritual, it isn't physical, it is 100% mental so it is only from that angle that any progress would be felt. 

The phone analogy was an interesting one because it got me thinking about the two functions of my brain that are being hit the hardest:  the amount of information it is trying to hold (storage space) and the speed with which it is being taken care of (processing speed).  So I did a quick search in coping with information overload.  Forbes had a good article the first step of which was a brain dump.  So I went old school, took out a paper and some markers and went to town.

I laid out every thought that seems to play on a continual loop in brain--there was a LOT of stuff rattling around up there.  And when you consider that each and every one of those things requires decisions, supporting thoughts and actions -holy crap no wonder it's been struggling!  The next step of the article talked about taking the items from your brain dump and putting them into one of four categories:  do it, delegate it, defer it, and drop it.  Unfortunately none of this items is actually droppable:(.  Also at first blush none of them seemed able to be delegated or able to be deffered, so feeling a bit defeated I made a three column chart and left it on the counter next to the brain dump.  

Over the course of the day I slowly but surely DID find items that I was able to defer (yes those three publications will definitely help my resume BUT not taking care of my child is NOT an option sooo those publications got put on the defer it list).  I also figured out items that I could, in a way, delegate.  For example, friendships.  I often take the lead or at least get the ball rolling for getting together so I am, for the foreseeable future, allowing others the opportunity to do so (they just don't know it;).   

By the end of the day everything from the brain dump had a category and my shoulders (and more importantly my brain) felt lighter!  

So then I started thinking about how I might could help my brain process more effectively.  Side note you can tell I have spent almost half my life living in the south when terms like "might could" flow from my subconscious ramblings--yikes before too long I'll be telling people to "cut off the lights" and that "I'm fixing" to do something!  But I digress...

After doing some research I'm going to start popping some of J.T's fish oil (why does it seem that fish oil is the answer to EVERYTHING?!?!).  Then later today Isabella and I are going to take a field trip to the Vitamin Store for some Ginko Biloba.  I may also be the only stay at home mom I know who needs to consider upping her caffeine intake.  Since I don't do coffee I only consume, at most, 70 mg a day by way of the 1-2 diet Cokes I drink.  I was going to try to shoot for 200, but began to feel a little loopy after 2 diet cokes and an iced caramel mocha so currently going to shoot for 100 and see what happens:).

What began as a joke may actual be the thing that saves the day--here's to hoping!