Brain Fog and No Creativity
Member
Join Date: Oct 2014
Posts: 1,327
Originally Posted by haennie 
I really feel for you, Pouncer.
I had to write an article from scratch during my detox week, right after quitting cold turkey. I was procrastinating it for a good while before that and I also had a strict deadline. I made an outline for it to see the structure in a whole first and kept it relatively simple. Then I broke it down to as small parts as it was possible. Took breaks in between, sometimes to take a nap, other times to check in here or talk to someone on the phone to distract me because my anxiety was through the roof and it was damn hard to concentrate on anything. I remember it was especially hard to start and to get through the phase to generate a first rough draft, but then it became much easier. Can anyone help you read through your drafts and revise them? I was doing it with a colleague, although I had to handle most of it.
Try to eat well, be in a quiet place, sleep whenever you can, and shut the rest of the world out if possible. That's what I did anyway.
As for the future, I can definitely tell you that it get much better and fast! Btw, drinking never helped my work-related creativity, it made it very hard to be productive. So worth to stay sober just for this!
Hang in there
I had to write an article from scratch during my detox week, right after quitting cold turkey. I was procrastinating it for a good while before that and I also had a strict deadline. I made an outline for it to see the structure in a whole first and kept it relatively simple. Then I broke it down to as small parts as it was possible. Took breaks in between, sometimes to take a nap, other times to check in here or talk to someone on the phone to distract me because my anxiety was through the roof and it was damn hard to concentrate on anything. I remember it was especially hard to start and to get through the phase to generate a first rough draft, but then it became much easier. Can anyone help you read through your drafts and revise them? I was doing it with a colleague, although I had to handle most of it.
Try to eat well, be in a quiet place, sleep whenever you can, and shut the rest of the world out if possible. That's what I did anyway.
As for the future, I can definitely tell you that it get much better and fast! Btw, drinking never helped my work-related creativity, it made it very hard to be productive. So worth to stay sober just for this!
Hang in there
Creativity, in my experience, is a lot about keeping the butt in the chair and dealing with the doubts that always arise.
Member
Join Date: Feb 2015
Posts: 54
You can do this.
The stress won't be helping, so do everything you can to eliminate it (breath, walk, meditate etc). I'm no expert, but the brain fog and altered cognitive processing means you'll have to change the way you work, for now. Work smart not hard.
Direction is key. Especially when misty. I find the brain fog and altered cognitive processing makes my thoughts more jumbled, so to compensate I spend more time (than I would like) planning and thoroughly mapping out the pieces.
Even without the fog I get writer's block from time to time. Everyone does. I don't know if it will help, but I only sit down to write when I know exactly what's going down on the page.
Other things help; reading for inspiration; regularly changing clothes; washing my (baffled) face; watching caffeine levels (too much really affects my capabilities).
I've no idea if any of that will be of assistance but good luck
The stress won't be helping, so do everything you can to eliminate it (breath, walk, meditate etc). I'm no expert, but the brain fog and altered cognitive processing means you'll have to change the way you work, for now. Work smart not hard.
Direction is key. Especially when misty. I find the brain fog and altered cognitive processing makes my thoughts more jumbled, so to compensate I spend more time (than I would like) planning and thoroughly mapping out the pieces.
Even without the fog I get writer's block from time to time. Everyone does. I don't know if it will help, but I only sit down to write when I know exactly what's going down on the page.
Other things help; reading for inspiration; regularly changing clothes; washing my (baffled) face; watching caffeine levels (too much really affects my capabilities).
I've no idea if any of that will be of assistance but good luck
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Mar 2015
Posts: 1,228
Just a quick update.
Thank you all for the experience and support. I made my deadline and started working on upcoming deadlines early in the morning. I was surprised that I was able to work easily and productively in the morning - I have been a night owl up until now.
For now, at least I have a Plan B. It is hard for me to write in the evenings, because I am used to being sloshed at my laptop. Writing in the early AM felt a lot different and it wasn't as much of a trigger for me.
Thanks, everyone.
Thank you all for the experience and support. I made my deadline and started working on upcoming deadlines early in the morning. I was surprised that I was able to work easily and productively in the morning - I have been a night owl up until now.
For now, at least I have a Plan B. It is hard for me to write in the evenings, because I am used to being sloshed at my laptop. Writing in the early AM felt a lot different and it wasn't as much of a trigger for me.
Thanks, everyone.
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