Ever experienced the dreaded brain fog?
For those of you unfamiliar, it’s a state of exhaustion similar to being hungover or sleep deprived, but primarily related to your brain rather than your body. You may struggle with information processing, logic sorting, spatial awareness and more.
Here’s an example.
Ever heard of the word aphasia? It’s ok, most mental capacity lawyers don’t know it either 🤣
It’s the first most common symptom in dementia; when someone starts to experience dementia symptoms because their brain is literally breaking down, they can struggle with word placement. They will either say something inappropriate, like cake when they mean chair, or they’ll get stuck and not be able to express the word.
It’s a symptom that comes with traumatic and degenerative brain injury. It’s also something our brains experience under stress and exhaustion - ever been drunk and not been able to think of the word?
Brains require rest; even more so when you’re creating new neural pathways through work, study and skill building.
I experienced aphasia a lot towards the end of my career, which was terrifying as a) someone known as being the wordiest lawyer about, b) a mental capacity lawyer and c) someone with a family history of early onset dementia
My point is, there are plenty of similarities between the struggles of a degenerating or traumatically injured brain and one that’s over exerted, stressed or inadequately supported, So instead of overworking to the point of exhaustion and then going to guilt at not ‘keeping up’ or doing everything at once, go to choice.
What is the more supportive step to take, knowing that you’re in this for the long haul and not just to get through the day?