Hello friends,
I don’t expect that any of you have been sitting on the edge of your seat waiting for my next post. But I do feel some explanation of my silence is in order. As happens to many of us, life got in the way. Both of my elderly parents were hospitalized during the last two months, and I was primary caregiver at their home, three hours’ drive away. Add to that the fact I was creamed from behind while parked at a busy intersection in the city after taking my mother to a medical appointment. She was fine. I’m not. And my car is totaled.
Then, I was working through massive revisions some wonderful, generous, kind and honest reviewers had given me on an entry I was working on for the Writer’s Trust of Canada’s RBC Bronwen Wallace Award for Emerging Writers contest. I thought I had another day to work on it but when I went to check the guidelines … NOT! The deadline was just a few hours away.
My capacity to keep track of my calendar or anything seems to have disappeared along with the Christmas baking I’ve been snorfing back as my coping strategy for all this stress.
Tis the season, right? All this added up to a grand scale meltdown yesterday, ugly cry, the whole bit.
So, marketing guru Ann Handley’s fortnightly newsletter was a welcome distraction once I’d hit send on the semi-finished entry for the Trust contest. As I sat, staring mindlessly at the screen, I snorted up my coffee when I read that Oxford University Press has crowned “brain rot” the 2024 Word of the Year.
I gave my head a shake and when I did, I looked out the window. The snow glistened, shimmering on the branches of coniferous trees, dancing gently in the wind. The glory of a fresh winter snowfall beckoned me to come for a walk outside …
This “brain rot” phenomenon has come to be for all the obvious reasons related to what I’m doing this very moment. Doom and Zombie scrolling, constantly checking my devices, etc. Ann mentioned “Tik Tok” and “X” a few times.
I’ve been feeling the symptoms of this ailment myself more and more. It’s reached a new high as my husband and I have been forced into the car buying market. We’re both losing our minds dealing with the barrage of buying options, relentless salespeople who won’t take no for an answer, and what my husband disparagingly refers to as “the man”, the hoops we have to jump through to buy used and bring a vehicle over from the next province.
We drove a few newer vehicles and the amount of real estate on the dashboard for tech was overwhelming.
Okay, I just gave my birth era away. But it looks like this isn’t a generational thing. Many of us – of all ages – need some simplicity in our lives… to save our brains and likely our bodies from rotting away.
Ann offers the following alternatives:
- What would we love to spend time doing, even if there are easier and faster approaches?
- What might we do strictly for the joy of it, detached from a goal or… well, “optimization”? (The root of the word “amateur” is “love.”)
- What would help us celebrate moments that make our work or life thrum with more meaning?
- What are the moments we need to grow our expertise or our craft for lasting impact within ourselves?
Ann talked about a friend who replaced her morning social scroll with 10 minutes of writing terrible poetry (her friend’s words not hers), a neighbour who turned their phone to greyscale because it made social media feel less appealing, and a workshop facilitator who banned phones and computers in favour of pencils and magic markers and paper.
Interestingly, while I was caring for my parents, my writing was literally (pun intended) my only escape. Having to stay in the moment while caring for my dad with dementia seemed to unleash stories of both my past and present. I wrote in every free minute I had. Scrolling my devices didn’t seem to be as important when my days were full with writing and caring—both hugely purposeful actions that gave meaning to each day.
I’m going to sit with this as I contemplate my strategies to avoid brain rot and the three words (credit to Chris Brogan) that I like to choose for the year to help guide my actions. In addition to a large contract where I’ll get to do some of the work writing I love best, I’m editing a poetry collection, and writing my first novel.
But what brings me joy? Where do I find meaning? What’s the contribution I want to make?
Joy, meaning, contribution. Three pretty good words. I’m not 100% sure those are the ones, but I feel like maybe I’m getting close.
Brain rot won’t have a home here not in 2025. Hopefully, not ever.
Stay tuned. And if you’d like to add to the conversation, I’d love to hear it!
Read Ann’s post at https://annhandley.optin.com/newsletter/totalannarchy/MjU4OTU2ODI=/ta-177-does-brain-rot-have-an-antidote.htm
Chris Brogan is hosting a workshop on his three words. You can read more and sign up at https://owner.media/three25?inf_contact_key=31aa78794d31987964417da65f85a47dd18a532c4142cb79caf2b269de1401fa
