True personal growth ultimately will lead to fulfillment, and it's my intention with these podcasts to connect more deeply with you. Thank you for joining me, Anne Corbin, and my guests, and welcome to this episode. Today I want to talk about something that's been coming up in conversations with clients and with friends as well and even just in passing moments and the topic is brain fog. And I'll be honest, until recently, I didn't think I'd ever experienced it. Overwhelm? Yes, definitely.
But brain fog? Not so much. At least that's what I thought. But the more we talked, the more I realized, oh hang on, there have been moments, especially when I sit down to create something like write a blog or write a post for social media, well that's when my clarity just goes offline. It's not stress, it's not panic, it's just a kind of quiet haze.
I sit down at my desk to write something meaningful and thoughtful and instead I find myself doing something like organizing my Google Drive folders or any number of things that crop up when I'm sitting in front of a screen. And this, it turns out, is a form of brain fog. You could call it, well, getting distracted or looking for displacement activity. So let's go into a bit more useful detail.
First of all, I want to start by saying that there is a medical form of brain fog and that is a type that's connected to serious health conditions like this so called long COVID, autoimmune disorders or actual neurological issues. If you're dealing with something that's persistent and worsening or affecting your ability to function, then it's time to call in the health professionals. But what I'm talking about is a more everyday kind of brain fog.
The fog that, well, high performers feel when they're tired but not sleepy, distracted but not anxious, and mentally, they're just not quite with it. So this is what it could look like. You can't concentrate. You're looking for displacement activity. Or you're trying to read something like a technical article and you keep reading the same thing. In fact, it even works if you're reading novels.
Personally, I haven't read any novels for a very long time, but I have sometimes listened to lighter stuff on Audible. It could be that you're struggling for words. They're just they're just not in your in your radar. That was me struggling for the right word. Or your ideas just feel out of reach and you've lost your usual sharpness. Things just feel a bit fuzzy. And it's frustrating, right? Especially when you know that you're capable of so much more.
Now here's the interesting thing: high achievers get it more than you'd think.
because we're always mentally switched on. There's constant stimulation. We're just picking what to do. There's constant input. There's too much information. Podcasts, emails, ideas, checklists, performance, WhatsApp, all the different methods of contact that we're supposed to keep up with, I find I really struggle. Then there's chronic overthinking.
I know a great many overthinkers and it's super hard for them to make a decision because your brain is your best tool and habitually, well, we tend to overuse it and not just for work but for planning, fixing, adjusting, predicting and of course perfecting. How many perfectionists are there amongst high performers? This kind of mental strain builds up like too many digital tabs left open on your screen and it slows the whole thing down and your computer just refuses to work.
Don't forget, our brain is more powerful than any computer we're likely to have ever had access to. And then there's lack of nervous system regulation because we have learned to push through. We push through instead of resetting. We'll go and drink some coffee instead of taking time out to breathe. A few deep breaths, a five minute break, a quick walk around outside in the fresh air if it's a reasonable time of year and the weather's getting better now.
Over time, that will become habitual rather than reaching for the caffeine, because caffeine is just a stimulant and it's actually going to make the fog worse and it's going to keep you even further from being in flow. And then I suppose well, no, don't suppose, it's true. Misalignment is the biggest of all the causes because sometimes brain fog is not about exhaustion. It's about doing things but doing them out of alignment. You're trying to force clarity when you're not interested.
There's no real desire to do the thing. And it's your body resisting. And anyone who studies body language knows that sometimes your body is saying completely different things to the sentences that you're uttering and it just goes to show how powerful your body is. Because people who can recognize body language, they know that you're not being as truthful as you think you're I mean, you might think you're being totally truthful yourself.
Now let's compare and contrast fog and overwhelm because I suppose I had to learn that the hard way. They are not the same thing. Overwhelm just feels like too much. Your thoughts are racing and you're feeling pressured. You recognize stress, anxiety and similar emotions. But fog, well that's the direct opposite. It's flat. You don't feel any kind of stimulation. It's like someone's dimmed the lights in your brain. There isn't too much going on. It's like your vehicle is running out of fuel.
You need some kind of a spark to get you enthused again and to, well, bring you back to life. So if like me, you've been confusing the two, or only labelling your experience as procrastination or lack of interest, it might actually be brain fog showing up, but in disguise. So what's it trying to tell you? Well, listen up, this is important. Brain fog is not a flaw, it's not a sign that you're lazy or what's that word flaky, scattered, unmotivated.
It's a signal, it's your system saying 'look something's off, there's nothing wrong with you, but you're out of sync with what you need'. So it could be something physical, you might actually be suffering from lack of sleep or dehydration, that's very common. Especially now with the weather heating up a bit, we need to drink a little more and I'm talking about drinking water, not soft drinks or not alcohol perish the thought.
Or it could just be screen fatigue and here's a big one, it could be pain. A couple of years ago I was suffering with really, really, really bad backache and I had to allow myself to take several months off work because this was when I was suffering from brain fog. I simply could not motivate myself to settle down to work in any form and I thought I was depressed, maybe I just had brain fog, but I definitely had to stop work, it wasn't happening.
So that was physical, could just be oh sorry, I shouldn't say just it could be emotional and emotions are super important. Suppose you're stressed and you're pushing it down, you're not recognising it, you're not working through it, that's what we call unprocessed stress. And well, it's your brain telling your body to do things it simply doesn't want to, so that's resistance and it's an issue. And then again, it could be energetic.
This is just us oh, I heard recently that one should never use that word 'just', so it's a sign that you are acting from pressure but not from purpose and this fog is a reminder that you need to reconnect hustling harder is not going to cut it. So what can we do about brain fog? I want to keep this simple, it's not necessarily going to be a magic bullet and the same quick fix won't work for everybody, but these are some tools for reconnection. Firstly, pattern interrupts.
If you notice the fog, just stop, close your eyes and take a moment. Three slow breaths, deep breaths remember, belly breathing, just keep your mouth closed and then the air will naturally go down to the lower reaches of your lungs. Stretch, go and splash some cold water on your face, take that quick walk outside, find something that's easy to do which will interrupt the autopilot and it's like giving your brain an opportunity to tune into a new channel. Secondly, mental space.
Try giving yourself an hour off. For example, it's not a good idea not to take lunch showers. Lunch showers are just as necessary if you're working from home and there's nobody cracking the whip or watching the clock. Give your self a break. And don't feel that you need to do something useful. Don't catch up on podcasts or webinars, no content of any sort.
Just give yourself space, Mindfulness, meditation, anything of that nature might feel a bit awkward at first, but clarity is what comes in those seriously needed gaps. Next, put your body first. Sometimes your brain is going foggy because your body is under resourced. What kind of food are you eating? Quit the processed food, cut right down on the sugar, drink more water, and move because remember the mind and the body are very, very tightly connected.
Your mind isn't in your head, it's in every cell of your body, so you've got to look after the whole machine. And think about what's emotionally stuck. Is something annoying you, frustrating you that you're not talking about, you're trying to ignore it? Same with resentment or fear. If you don't want to discuss it with anybody, just write it down. This is what journaling is for. If there is someone you can talk to, definitely talk it through.
And just expressing it, putting it into words, it helps enormously. Clarity will often return once you've acknowledged the emotion and described it and kind of allowed it to be seen. And finally, keep up the creativeness, a little bit of sketching or writing, I suppose even doodling would work or make little voice notes. I keep a pad handy so if an idea occurs to me, I just jot it down because chances are I won't remember it the next day.
I might not even remember it in the afternoon of the same day that it occurred to me because my mind is over full and I recognize that. So I'm interested in any advice I can find to help me stop making the same mistakes over and over. I presume that all of us have our notifications or at least most of our notifications switched off, But even so, we feel that we're obliged. Well, I mean, for business, we have to. We have to keep checking emails, but do it maybe three times a day.
Set aside particular times to check your emails. Only deal with the most important ones if you can bash off those sort of two line replies. The ones that take a little bit longer and a little bit more thought, file them separately and then again, set aside time later in the day to deal with the awkward emails. So here's a closing thought or a takeaway. Brain fog is not a flaw or an issue, and it's definitely not a failure.
It's simply a sign that your system is craving something different, as in more alignment or more regulation and guidance or simply more space. And if you're someone who prides yourself on being sharp and being driven and productive, it might feel quite uncomfortable to admit that, but consider it an invitation or a suggestion, not a judgment because you know we are always our own worst critics, So you're not criticizing yourself, you're just giving space to something that you've been ignoring.
So what's one thing you're going to pause today so that your clarity has a chance to catch up? And what's one thing different that you're going to say yes to just for the sake of your own presence? So thanks for listening and if this episode sparked something in you, resonated with you, I'd love to connect, so message me or tag me. Oh, and I'd love it if a few more of you would leave a review for the podcast.
Don't forget, in the show notes is a list of different ways to contact me and a few notes about what I offer and as always, keep listening to your inner clarity and what it's trying to tell you. You can set yourself up to win at the game of life. Become familiar with the laws of the universe. You have infinite potential. You can influence reality. Quantum growth and connection explores success strategies, power principles, relationship rescue, and the field.