How to Make Peace with a Busy Mind as a Writer
Sometimes I wish I could just shut my brain off. Flip a switch and let the lights go out for a few minutes. But I have a busy mind, as I suspect most writers do. I suspect, moreover, that people with naturally busy minds gravitate toward writing and other creative fields as a way to make sense of the goings-on inside our heads. Joan Didion said, “I write entirely to find out what I'm thinking, what I'm looking at, what I see and what it means,” and I believe that holds true for myself as well. As someone with ADHD, it often takes putting my thoughts onto paper for me to understand what’s going on inside my mind.
When I was in high school, my ADHD first started to assert itself, though I didn’t know that was what it was at the time. The only words and phrases I had to describe what I was feeling were those of my family and friends: “your mind works faster than your lips” was a common refrain referencing how my ADHD affects the way I speak and how hard it can be to understand me when I really get going. There was only one part of me that seemed able to keep up with my mind, and that was my hands. When I sat down to write, when I was in flow, I could write thousands of words over the span of just a few hours, my fingers flying over the keys or page. By the time I finished, my mind felt calmer, quieter except for the buzz and afterglow of the session. Writing helped me make peace with the thoughts churning inside my head.
Over the years, I’ve found other ways to make that same peace. Among them is medication, which has changed my life in the short period of time I’ve been on the correction one; I feel more in control of my thoughts and where I place my mental energy. Of course, medication is not for everyone, and it goes without saying that you should always consult with a doctor before taking any prescription medication. With that out of the way, I personally cannot imagine going back to the way my life was before I started on my medication. Before I was surviving my disorder, now I simply live with it like I live with my cats, each of us coexisting with the other, even when one wants to knock over my spider plant every five minutes.
Rituals and routines are other ways that help me settle my easily unsettled mind. For example, I am a big proponent of long, hot baths with a book as company. Almost every day, I take whatever book I’m reading at the time and go upstairs to my bathroom, where I run scalding hot water into the tub and soak for at least thirty minutes to an hour or more. Whether I actually read or not doesn’t much matter. The ritual of the water and my soaking in it is what helps still my thoughts. There’s something about being enveloped by the water that brings my mind back to center, like a hard reset after a long day.
I would be remiss not to mention my friends and family here, a support system that keeps me grounded when I feel like I’m spinning out. I can’t count the number of times a friend has listened to me ramble while I pace a rut into my living room carpet. Having people who are there to listen when you can’t get the thoughts to calm down can be a lifesaver in its own right. They’re the ones who provide me with sanity checks, to make sure that what I’m thinking, feeling, or planning to do is what’s healthiest and best for me at that time. My mind may work faster than my lips, but to the friends I have now, that doesn’t matter. What matters is that they’re there to listen while I work things out. And, of course, I’m there for them in return.
Having a busy mind as a writer isn’t something that makes me special or unique in our community, but I do have a type of busy mind that is different from what we usually think of as a busy mind. I’ve been living with this for the majority of my life, but it’s only recently that I’ve started finding the ways to cope that work for me. Maybe they’ll work for you, maybe they won’t. But it couldn’t hurt to give it a shot. Maybe you’ll finally get some rest.
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