gemini://soviet.circumlunar.space:1965/wholesomedonut/gemlog/three-steps-to-a-less-overworked-brain.gmi

I'm a certified workaholic. Workaholic because I am now effectively working three jobs (and doing this stuff as a hobby), and I'm *enjoying it*; and certified because it's been about a year since I got prescribed for an anti anxiety/anti depression drug.

Granted, I'm someone that's always had those tendencies that needed medicating. But I was able to keep them under wraps most of the time because I had a smaller, easier lifestyle to live. As the years have gone by that is no longer true. Therefore, in order to live my best life and maintain the degree of productivity, efficiency and enjoyment that I'm used to I had to change things.

Given that foreword, here are some tips that I have come up with to help your average Joe or Joan cope with the overage of mental instability the world is currently embroiled in.

I'm going to try and stay away from pseudo-psychological mumbo jumbo, and only mention spirituality in the barest, general sense because that stuff is very individual and specific to each person.

It is my belief that these three steps, if followed in good faith and with honest effort, can possibly help a general populace who has spent the last year and some at an overage of news, content, isolation, and uncomfortable change.

So what do I mean by 'find your center'? I mean, **find the core motivations, needs and habits that build up the essential elements of your daily lifestyle.** Are you somebody that's motivated by deadlines and therefore procrastinates? Are you somebody that *needs* at least 8 hours of sleep in order to function without detriment or consistently bad moods? Are you somebody that lives and dies by doing laundry every day, regardless of what goes on throughout the rest of it?

Identifying and isolating these things is a key process to managing your work life and home life. I'll give you an example from myself:

In other words, I am usually conscientous to a fault (I've quit jobs over it), doing nice things for people will always pull me out of a funk, and if I'm working my arse off *now* then I'd better have some time *later* to relax and enjoy not laboring for a bit.

Knowing those three things about myself has allowed me to more accurately create a pathway to change myself in meaningful ways. I propose the second of my steps:

This is probably the most general and open-ended of the three tips, without some clarification. I want to specifically reference that this tip is talking about your lifestyle, income and social circles. Once you've found your center, what parts of your life most rely on it? What pillars are your core motivations and desires built on? Are they at home? The office? Tied to a specific person or group?

A year ago I didn't even know what Mastodon really was. I had heard of it once or twice on news sites or while flicking through an RSS feed, but I'd never got into it. Then I found [fosstodon](https://fosstodon.org), and I can honestly say that my life changed.

Because I had made a **significant change in how I approached social interaction** in the midst of a pandemic.

I had just gotten rid of Twitter, Reddit, and the other major social media sites I used. I hadn't used Facebook in ages already, but by this point I had cut the cord. I was only on Discord, a common vice among people who normally proclaim "FOSS is best!", with people I already knew.

This change, while it felt kind of arbitrary and adventurous at the time, has become a permanent change instead of a temporary experiment. I have met lots of new people, got involved in other sites and projects like the [gemini protocol](gemini.circumlunar.space), as well as starting up my own oldschool [forum site](https://discourse.wholesomedonut.dev). Heck, I just started learning Rust the same day I wrote this paragraph.

I wouldn't have done that without making a meaningful change in how I interacted with people. And that is my takeaway for this step: **do whatever you need to do, in order to procure a lasting change that moves you *away* from how you use to live. Try something new.**

This doesn't do well when the world's legislations, markets, and the loading bars of my video games don't proceed at a pace I consider acceptable.

Tongue-in-cheek deprecation aside, it's important to give yourself time to change. Don't give yourself arbitrary deadlines like "I will be off Facebook for good in a week," or "I will lose 10 pounds this month or else!" unless you *work well with deadlines.* Don't run through a breakneck pace of trying to rediscover yourself day after day if you've already got a full plate working 10-hour shifts and/or raising a family. And above all, **don't compare yourself to others.**

If *Dune* says "Fear is the mind killer," then Wholesomedonut from the Internet says "Comparison is the *pathos* killer." Nothing will kill your self-satisfaction, the enjoyment of your hobbies, or your resolution to keep trying to get better at something than if you watch somebody else do it and wonder why you aren't more like them yet.

I hope you can garner some helpful information from this little spiel. It's been a while since I just sat down and wrote something with a mind to encourage people for no reason other than because I wanted to.

And that genuine desire will power you through all three of the tips I've mentioned.

You are worth improving. You are worth persevering. You are worth continuing to grow. I have yet to meet somebody who wasn't in this life, regardless of their choices. Give yourself a break, and then pick up again tomorrow and keep moving forward.

Let me know if you've done something like this as of late, or if you have other questions.

Three steps to a less overworked brain

Foreword

Find your center first

Accept and embrace chances to change

Give yourself time

Ending