Ep. 42 Mental Capacity
HEY! AND WELCOME BACK TO WITHOUT A DOUBT, the podcast . Im your host, mad, a cycle breaker, entrepreneur, and sprinkle of reality. This podcast is a place where we celebrate living life authentically and organically as ourselves. We are the ones breaking cycles, making waves, and living out the truest versions of ourselves.
The last few weeks have been extremely busy. I not complaining about being busy, but there was a time in my life I would say “being busy is great.” But lately im just yearning for some rest. I feel like im in my go season. I wouldnt say its the toxic hustle, but I do feel as though my plate is full. So full that I just dont even have a second to do what I want. I cannot lie and tell you this episode was an easier one for me. Truthfully Im feeling tapped. I wanted to skip this week. I wanted to just say fuck it.
But I thought of the one day I shared this thought on my instagram story and how so many people wrote to me and said their too understood this mental capacity idea I was spewing.
I am a woman of many ideas, talents, skills, and hobbies. I have a box of craft supplies under my bed, I constantly am seeking out new shit to try, and I honestly dont know how to rest. I am a nap queen, however I find myself trying to avoid a nap some days. This is due to the fact that I have an evergoing constant list happening in my mind/on 100 pieces of paper scattered around multiple areas of my house. I am busy, so much so that I Myself feel like I just dont have the time to partake in the hobbies I want.
For example, years ago a friend of mine did hula hoop movement. Not Just standing there moving the hula hoop around your waist but doing free style movements and using the hoop as a prop with isolations and other cool “terms” they use. I wanrted to get into this. My friend hosted a class and I bought a hoop from her and ever since that one day she taught me some tricks, ive maybe pulled out my hoop 4 times. That was 5 years ago. So I trashed the hoop this weekend.
I also have air dry clay, some frames from the dumpster I salvaged, and a shit ton of reels saved on projects I want to tackle, but ya girl just doesnt have the time. Better yet, I just dont have the mental capacity. Oh, I also want to start ASL classes and I really want to get into dance classes for shuffling. Oh wait did I mention I need to get back to hot yoga.. but yeah the 24 hours in my day and all the “little fires” that im putting out are taking up all my mental capacity.
Your mental capacity means your ability to understand information and make decisions about your life. It can also mean the ability to communicate decisions about your life. Your capacity to make a decision can vary depending on the time that the decision needs to be made and the type of decision you need to make.
But in this sense we are talking mental capacity like you just don’t have the space to deal with any more decisions, choices, or even space for hobbies. This has to do with a handful of things one of which I am working on with a professional. I think some of us are just constantly pulled in a million directions and that means leaving ourselves with the bare minimum. It means not doing the things you want, not booking the vacations, not taking the time you need for you, because when your plate is full, there’s no room for dessert. No time for a treat. And what kind of life are we living if we can’t even enjoy it. Idk about you but i don’t just want my dessert after my meal, I want to be able to have dessert anytime. And that means clearing some space on that plate, not attempting to grab a new plate, if you catch my drift. Also, have you ever had a full plate, ate the whole thing, and then never felt satisfied, but feel yucky.. yeah this is that mentally tapped on the mental capacity thing.
For those who work 40 hours a week for someone else, where you dont have schedule freedom or the choice to choose to schedule.. I APPLAUD you. If you have kids of top of that. Im clapping. Oh youre participating in your hobbies, too? Standing ovation for you.
But im just not there. And honestly I feel if youre doing all the things you dont have any time for yourself. Legit ask yourself when you had a full day if youre someone always doing the things? I for one can’t tell you when I just took a day to rest. Sure, days off, but I reeeeallllllllly havent just had a day for me. If youre a parent youre like shit, not since my kid was born. now thats a different mental capacity always there, but I mean totally disconnect. And let me get real, we all need to disconnect. We all need to be unavailable at times. This is me giving myself some more permission to change my own business hours for MYSELF. Hello, thanks for calling Madison, I am currently closed today. This is the attitude I need to possess on some days.
So often as well, I just dont even have the mental capacity to sit down and make plans with friends or “people” as I call it. The last few weeks ive been working essentially a 40 hour work week. Plus running my ebay business, putting out an episode a week of this podcast, and all the other responsibilities of life. So much so I have done basically the bottom of the barrel for me. Thats getting to the gym and fueling up with better filling foods. This is the bare minimum for me. But our lives arent meant to feel like we are doing the bare minimum.
The bare minimum is not how I see myself living and I dont think anyone wants to be there either. I think we all want more for ourselves but we just dont have the time or space , energy or capacity. Some of us are doing it all for ourselves and doing things for others. I know for a fact I am the only one in my family that people constantly come to for help. This is one of the hardest things to veer away from. I myself know I want to be helpful, but most of the time lately I just dont have the mental capacity to even be of any help. And this is me reminding you thats okay if you are trying to get off the bottom of the barrel too.
We are all sitting in different spaces and spots and places. We are all dealing with life in different ways. Have you ever heard, we all have the same 24 hours as Beyonce? Well thats some what true, but she has asssitants, helpers, and people she pays to help her get her shit done. Most of us are doing it ourselves. Our time is the same 24 hours we just dont have the extra hands.
We can’t live our lives packed to the brim. We also can’t live in a constant state of hustle or go. Some of us do live this way. I myself am attempting to loosen up, clear the plate, and find some room. I know how much of a struggle this is when youre not even sure where to start. It starts with our mind. How much we are able to do is directly correlated with mental capacity.
When you do a deep google search about mental capacity, most times it has to do with disability. However, the mental capacity you have can also disable your ability to do things. Which is where this podcast episode has been leading into.
Ten Ways to Declutter Your Mind and Free Up Mental Space
- Declutter Your Surroundings First: When I can’t get my shit together I start to pick up shit. And clean up shit. Ill even do this at your house. Clutter in life is not my jam. I dont function well in messes and im sure you dont either. How could you when you feel restricted? I find myself to be a minimalist, I dont need much. But I dont find that I can collect things that I want to do, and then before I know it have a plethora of things that I want to craft or do, and mental I just dont even have the space. I tossed out a few things this past weekend like I mentioned, the hula hoop, a minor I was I gonna paint, some other random items ive collected with grand ideas for. Cleaning up your area and space and feeling like you can breathe, will inevitably allow you to breathe better.
- Keep a Journal. ... or doodle book, gratitude journal, phone notes. Idk I do think that sometimes brain dumping or releasing the thoughts, mental diagrams, and lists is how we can free up the capacity.
- Don't Dwell on the Past. You can’t change it anyway, but if you are constantly thinking about it, this is a good time to learn how not to do that thing youre dwelling on again. Sometimes it is too late, but in those moments its also a pivotal time to note, maybe that thing that wasn’t for us, that were dwelling on something that was never even ours to begin with.
- Stop Trying to Do or Think About Everything at Once: ... We are human, not robots. We can’t always multitask or always do it all. We need rest in order to recharge. We need a break, we need vacations, we need things to look forward to. Mental capacity will always be full when youre not giving yourself anytime to unload. HI, this one is for myself. I am working really hard on this one.
- Control the Quantity and Quality of Information You Receive: my best tip, stop watching the news. I dont have cable and I dont follow what’s happening as far as western media. I dont follow celebrities. What they do doesnt impact my life. I do know that for a while I was feeling mentally tapped as far as my capacity as I was diving into the Middle East and their politics and learning more history to better educate myself. I could have easily sat in front of a tv and allowed propaganda to burn into my brain, but as a human, we have the decisions to do better. What we watch is what we use as fuel, not just what we eat. Your mind is like a seed, you either grow flowers, or you grow weeds.
- Don't Be Afraid to Make a Decision, better yet, jut make the damn decisions. Get that shit done, stop letting it linger on your todo list. or better yet make the decison that youre just not doing it for another day.
As this episode comes to a close. Maybe youve been in your season of go and didnt notice that you are at your Max mental capacity. Maybe youve been here done this. Hell, maybe you dont even know this feeling at all. But what I want to leave you with is that life is far tooo short to be living life tapped out. Life is loaded with stuff we should be able to add on to our plate rather than attempting to grab another and juggle. Its just not possible. Unless youre the acrobractic plate spinner with 15 plates on sticks spinningg 50900x times. If that is you, dm me so you can get on my podcast LOL.
See you next week and let me remind you that you are without a doubt a badass. Xoxo mad
