Brain Dumping

It’s 2:00 AM. I’m awake. Fully awake. My mind is racing. I’m worried about a bunch of things I need to do. I’m worried about whatever might be going on with my kids. I’m thinking about all the decisions I need to make today when I get up. Other things flutter by like butterflies through my mind. Oh, there it goes. Oh, there, it’s back. I really need to get back to sleep, otherwise I’m going to be dead on my feet all day. Oh, how I just need to get back to sleep. But I can’t get these thoughts out of my head. I reach for my phone for the third time in fifteen minutes. Sigh. It’s time to get up and brain dump. I get up, pick up my journal and pen that’s laying on the bedside table, and wander to the kitchen. I turn on the light and start writing furiously, getting all of what’s in my head, out on paper. Ahhhhh, that feels much better. I get a drink of water, head back to bed, and fall blissfully to sleep.

Do you see yourself in the story above? Ever had so much going on in your brain about decisions you need to make, things to do, places to go, to do lists, and so many ideas and thoughts? Do you overthink and have so much anxiety that you are overwhelmed? Does this brain “mess” keep you from doing anything at all?

Brain dump. Let it all out. I mean everything. Spill your thoughts on the page; plans, dreams, decisions, ideas, tasks; anything that has gotten ahold of your brain. Write it ALL down, Doesn’t have to make sense. Doesn’t have to be in full sentences, or everything spelled correctly. Write in circles, or squares or scribbles. JUST GET IT OUT of that overloaded brian. Think of a big white board filled with things that may look nonsensical. Don’t think hard about it, just let it flow. When you’re done, go back to sleep or to whatever you were doing before you just brain dumped. Walk away and come back to the dump after you’ve had a chance to breathe.

Once you’ve come back to that piece of paper or journal. What are you going to do with it? Are you going to :

Read through it once. Does anything yell at you to pay attention to it? If so, pay attention to it and do what it’s telling you to do.

Share with someone who can help you prioritize or separate out things that have common threads or themes. You can chunk those together which will help with clarity.

Keep it for posterity as a way to remind yourself that your brain works differently and brain dumping is a great way to clear your head

What to use? A notebook, notepad or journal. If you have ADHD though, I don’t recommend using a single piece of paper. Chances are, you’ll lose it. Take it from someone who knows…..you’ll waste time looking for it, get frustrated and then get angry. Not a good use of your precious time.

Use a brain dump app. Google it. There’s a bunch out there. Personally, I like Obsidian or Evernote

Use a brain dump worksheet. Make your own or you can Google it as well. My favorite right now has the left side of the paper with all of your brain dump and the right side has three bubbles where you can prioritize the top 3, the easy 3 and the next 3.

Throw it away. Now that it’s all out, you can think more clearly

The benefits of brain dumping are wonderful. It can help manage anxiety, over thinking, help organize your thoughts, help prioritization, and help with overwhelm. It can also be very cathartic and cleansing, like a good cry. Try it some time. I highly recommend it.