How I'm Fixing My Overstimulated Brain

It was only 50 seconds and I didn't have it. What was I gonna do? No stimulation. I didn't have my phone. Wait, that's insane. I had to fix that. I only had to wait 50 seconds and I immediately reached for my phone to fill that time up. Over the past few weeks, months, years, I felt a little foggy. No focus. My mind was always occupied. Why was that? Because I lost boredom. I always had to fill up the time with something stimulating. So what do I do? I have four maid sides in my room. The closet side, the door side, and then the window side. But I have this one blank wall of my room I want to fill. I'm not completely sure of what I want to add exactly, but I kind of have an idea of what I want to fill this wall with. But let's get to work. To fix this foggy feeling, I knew I had to fix my habits. One thing that I started to notice was how mindlessly I would consume things. So the first habit was to consume better. I needed to be more intentional. One thing I knew I wanted to add to my blank wall was prints. I already had one I liked, but I needed to fill my wall, so I was going to need a few more. I found two more online I really liked, but I was having trouble finding one more, so I made a quick design I thought was cool. Now we just have to wait for the prints to deliver. I was sick of mindlessly consuming. So I want to make sure that when I go on my phone, I have a purpose in mind. I'm not just rotting, because that will cause me to be aware of what I'm doing. It just seems healthier. Have a goal when consuming, even if that's just to scroll for 10 minutes. But even if you limit it, that makes it intentional. It can be inspiration, sending a message, checking up on somebody. But have a goal. I thought the wall was looking more full, but there were a few holes I needed to fill. At the beginning of last year, I wrote down a few goals I wanted to achieve. Hit 50,000 subscribers, upload six videos, but one was read 10 books. I read three. I liked reading, I just never took time to do it. So the second habit is reading at the beginning and end of the day. To fill some of the holes in the wall, I knew I wanted to add some quotes I liked. So I ordered a few frames, put some quotes on paper, and filled some of the holes. I enjoyed reading at the beginning of the day. It allowed for my brain to kind of warm up. And at the end of the day, it allowed for my brain to kind of wind down. Reading felt so refreshing. Unlike constantly flooding your brain, reading takes time. It's slow on purpose. We need slow. The goal was to focus my mind onto something. The wall was looking a little more full, but I still wanted to add a few more things. The mornings were so much better after I started doing this. They were more quiet, more peaceful, slower. All because I didn't immediately grab my phone. Third habit is not using my phone for the first hour or so of the day. One thing I've always liked is clocks. There's just so many different types. So I knew I had to add one to the wall. I thought this one added a spark of color that the wall needed. Not using my phone saved me that hour of screen time I would normally have. I used that hour on better stuff, and it was so much more calm. I wasn't immediately in a rush. The wall was filling, but there were two more things I wanted to add. My mind wasn't right. I was too stimulated. I wasn't using my phone as much, but what can I do to refocus, to fix my lack of focus? When looking around my room, most of the place was lit up, but this wall was lacking some light, which meant I needed to find another light source. This next habit was specifically to help me learn to focus better. Meditation. Training my focus again. I forced myself to focus on something, and every time my mind wanders, I have to draw it back. I definitely needed to do this a ton. It's hard, but I think it'll help so much. The light definitely helps the wall some, but I had one last thing I wanted to add. Our brains can get so cluttered. There has to be a way to organize our thoughts a little, but how? The last item I wanted to add to the wall was something I've been wanting to add to my room for a while. It was going to finish the wall off for now. Reflecting on our thoughts and days is important, so the last habit I was going to start doing is journaling. Putting what you're feeling, thinking, whatever it might be, onto paper can clear your head so much. This allows you to see your thought process a little, look back on how you thought before, and it just organizes everything in your head a little. It forces you to reflect. Don't try to be artsy with it. No one else is going to see it, so write what you are actually thinking. Don't be performative. I'm liking the wall. It might not be the best, but I like it, and there's definitely more room for if I want to add stuff later on. I think the goal of this year is to think clearer. To slow down. To stop being in such a rush. To have patience. To do more than consume. To not be mindless, but intentional. To be okay with boredom.