I just automatically went through at least half a dozen steps. I opened up the link to my blog and signed in. I opened Google Drive and clicked on the folder where I keep daily writing and rambling. I opened a blank document. I named it 2aug2015. And all of the sudden I couldn’t even remember what I was doing or why. But I just came back to myself and remembered: OH YES, I’m writing.
I was thinking today about how the weight of making decisions is exhausting. It leaves me feeling drained the same way that talking to too many people drains me. Decision fatigue - actually, I’m certain that’s a thing. I think I read somewhere recently that you can be more productive if you eliminate unnecessary decisions. You can do things like wear the same outfit/style every day, or make the same breakfast every morning. Eliminating those choices gives you a little more capacity for making other decisions. And I think I understand that. For example, I love thinking about what to make for dinner, but if I’m overwhelmed in other areas of life, I just...can’t. I can make beans and rice or fried eggs on toast or I can order pizza. So while information and work are infinite, our decision making brains are not.
I read an article this morning from the New York Times blog about how walking in nature changes our brains. “Most of us today live in cities and spend far less time outside in green, natural spaces than people did several generations ago. City dwellers also have a higher risk for anxiety, depression and other mental illnesses than people living outside urban centers, studies show.” Yikes. It always floors me that simple physical activities can have such an influence over the mental and emotional state, something that seems so mysterious to me.
