Published in  
Creative Process
 on  
April 13, 2022

Seeking Mental Clarity

What happens to our writing when we're not leaving space for deep thinking or daydreaming or rest?

Okay, Self, you had problems with this yesterday, so we better review it now.

1. Pour water into the kettle.2. (And I think this is where you went wrong yesterday) Turn the kettle on.3. Check the water has boiled – which should be apparent from the steam rising out the spout and the warmth of the kettle to the touch – before pouring it into your mug (you also apparently missed this step).

My father likes to call me the absent-minded professor – probably because I do things like pour cold water into my instant coffee (which is how my day started yesterday).

I can be quite forgetful about day-to-day things. I like to blame it on my marking, which always seems to turn me into a zombie and make me useless for pretty much anything else.

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It doesn’t typically impact my writing, except when I used to mark before I wrote and then found I couldn’t. Prioritizing when I write, ensuring I do it when I’m most alert when I can, has really helped me stick with my daily writing commitment.

Recently, though, I’ve been finding my mind felt different – and not just when I was marking, but most of the time. It wasn’t the typical forgetfulness. It felt strained. Over-tired.

And then I read Sarah Selecky’s post about White Space. I realized I’d been filling my day with all sorts of words – writing words, reading about writing words, teaching words. And my breaks? Usually social media (Twitter my procrastination tool of choice).

I wasn’t going into a place of deep thinking, of deep noticing, of just being. I wasn’t giving my brain a rest.

So for the past few days I’ve added daily white space to my commitments. I’ve also started using Antisocial. It feels a bit childish to have to have a program stop me from going onto Twitter after each assignment I mark, but it’s working, so I’m going to keep doing what works and let my brain rest. That way it will have energy for what’s really important.