Yesterday I talked about something I do when my mind becomes too busy and too cluttered, when I think of and remember too many things, when all my thoughts begin to pile up and to make thinking difficult and living, in general, miserable. I talked about writing everything down, ideas, thoughts, worries, everything, and talking a bit about them, planning, describing, thinking of ways to improve my situation.
There isn't much I could add about this topic, and yet I'd like to reiterate just how liberating it can feel to put everything you have in mind on paper, or in a file, on your computer, anywhere honestly, just to get it out of your mind. It's like coming home after a long day of carrying a backpack full with notes, agendas and books, and finally taking it off and feeling that huge weight being lifted from your shoulders.
I spent a few hours yesterday doing just that, and going a bit beyond just writing those things down. I tried to write as many details as I felt were needed, because I knew that just the ideas themselves won't be enough. If I write down the idea but not the details of what I'd like to do, I will keep on thinking about all of it to make sure I won't forget anything that I consider to be important. And so I wrote as much as I could.
I already had 5 pages worth of notes from the past in a "Word" document on my computer, so I just opened it and continued writing. I managed to fill 5 more pages. I mainly wrote about projects I wanted to work on, to make sure that I can get rid of those quickly and get all those details out of my mind. I wrote about how I'd like each project to be, what each project would involve, what type of work would be required, what my vision is and ways in which I can actually create whatever I had in mind.
I also came up with a few ideas for things I can start working on that might actually help me improve my financial situation in the future. Near the end I also wrote a short list containing all the books I'd like to read while in Germany (most of them related to Philosophy) and the order in which I'd like to read them. I've been thinking about that for a while, and I wanted to write it down so I can move on and think of other things.
I decided, however, not to write about my worries and events that make me anxious or just sad, because I didn't feel that I needed to. I have most of those things under control and I have enough plans that will help me deal with whatever comes my way. But if I would feel the need to do it, I could write about those things, trying to come up with plans that would help me fix them and make everything better.
It's just very interesting to see how much it can help to just write things down and see them somewhere else outside of your mind. Although thinking about them might seem like enough effort, our minds are often very chaotic, and it's difficult to always coherently think about what bothers us or about our plans for the future. It's difficult to remember every thought we have and to make sure we know every possible detail about what we'd like to do.
Once you put things on paper, once you externalize them, you can give them a structure that will almost always be more solid than your volatile mind. Then you can use that structure to make a plan or to better think of what needs to be changed, and what needs to be improved.
Someone on the internet said something interesting that I still remember: our minds are for thinking, not for remembering, for coming up with ideas not for storing them. And I agree. Our memory is limited and filling our heads with all kind of things that we could simply write down just doesn't make that much sense. Thinking should be our main concern, not remembering everything that goes through our minds.
So if you feel as if there's too many things going on in your life, if you feel as if there's too much going on in your mind at all times, that you think to much and that there's too much for you too remember, try writing everything down, in as much detail as you feel you need to. It might surprise you how better you can feel after doing that, and how much simpler thinking will become when you don't have to remember everything.