Feeling Like My Brain’s Gone on Vacation - Anyone Else?

hostie

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Hey everyone,

Not sure if it's just me, but I’ve been noticing that my brain isn’t churning out ideas like it used to. Back in the day, I felt like a fountain of creativity, but now at 34, things seem... different. Could it be the change in the crowd around me, or maybe it’s the hustle of raising two kids? Or, am I just getting dumber?

Anyone else experiencing this kind of mental shift? It’s like I want to snap back to my old self but can’t quite catch my footing. Would love to hear your thoughts or any advice on how to get the old gears grinding again!

Cheers!
 
I got twin baby boys at home - what gets me thinking is trying to secure their future. Everything I do, they will see.

I'm 26, you've got almostt a decade on me - but as dumb as it sounds, I try to meditate. Find some alone time (if you can, or even before bed or a shower, etc) and just release those negative thoughts.
 
I got twin baby boys at home - what gets me thinking is trying to secure their future. Everything I do, they will see.

I'm 26, you've got almostt a decade on me - but as dumb as it sounds, I try to meditate. Find some alone time (if you can, or even before bed or a shower, etc) and just release those negative thoughts.
I completely agree with the suggestion of meditation; I don't find it silly at all. In fact, I try to find time for meditative moments whenever possible. It's not about battling negative thoughts for me—I consider myself a generally happy person. My challenge seems more related to a drop in creativity. It feels like a kind of cognitive decline rather than being distracted by negative or depressive thoughts.

My past experiences might also play a significant role in this mental shift. I started a company in my late 20s that eventually reached a valuation of $175 million. However, dealing with much larger forces in the industry led to a sophisticated takeover of my company by key individuals who were very close to the business—ironically, they were my initial legal team. Snakes in the grass. They ended up controlling all intellectual property and pushed me out literally overnight, all while still attending meetings as if nothing were going on, significantly damaging my public reputation in the process for said specific industry. Of course at the time this incident had taken a toll not just financially, as I spent a substantial amount of money fighting this takeover unsuccessfully, but perhaps my creative energies as well due to my network I built my entire life practically abandoning me haha. Now, I find myself in an environment lacking in creativity and forward-thinking, "working for the man", which could be contributing to my current creative block.

Mostly curious how many people are going through something similar. I feel like the ideas that do surface, I take manic action on, and in hindsight clearly see each one is not at ALL sustainable or achievable, like my brain has turned off playing "the long game" and is stuck in a perpetual "how to win it all back" gambling style ideas.
 
I think I wouldn't want to live at that point and call an ambulance to seek immediate help as I would doubt myself how could I lose close to 200 million dollars. Years later my brain would be still confused by that event thinking "hey, I could have 200 million usd by now but have an empty bank account?!".

Regards

I heard people don't get as fast at 35 as they do at 25. For sure you only live 20s once. Most people waste them.
 
Read closed space is for analytical critical thinking and if you want creative inspirations and ideas you should go to open space or big places like in nature or big archaeological structures like big museums and whatever is in your city.

Try travelling around, seeing, meeting people and just participating in events.

We think if you want ideas in your field, you must only involve it... but you can get ideas and inspirations from related field and sometimes from completed unrelated field and events.

I would morning, evening walk, light running. Do yoga or workout to stretch your body.

Wanting to get back, to win back and show them is natural but not realistic and practical. As hard as it is, accepting it and letting go is the way forward. Journaling or writing it down on diary will help you immensely. You don't to suppress your feelings and emotions, you let them come, you accept them and let it pass through you. Writing it down helps. Write down, how you felt, how you are feeling and write down what is the healthy and practical way forward for you.

Very easy breathing meditation or exercise would be Wim Hof breathing method. This will help you regulate your emotions and calm your mind:

And follow these protocols from Andrew Huberman:

Wishing you the best. Please do post updates so you can keep track of yourself.
 
And also consult a therapist cause it's too heavy.

All these techniques presented above are hard to apply solo.

I've got burned on different stuff and handling it alone was impossible.

I recommend professional help. Not lawyers who as you can see aren't really lawful.

Evil lawful people - the worst kind of people. You were really unfortunate. But everyone does encounter them once in their life at least.
 
I completely agree with the suggestion of meditation; I don't find it silly at all. In fact, I try to find time for meditative moments whenever possible. It's not about battling negative thoughts for me—I consider myself a generally happy person. My challenge seems more related to a drop in creativity. It feels like a kind of cognitive decline rather than being distracted by negative or depressive thoughts.

My past experiences might also play a significant role in this mental shift. I started a company in my late 20s that eventually reached a valuation of $175 million. However, dealing with much larger forces in the industry led to a sophisticated takeover of my company by key individuals who were very close to the business—ironically, they were my initial legal team. Snakes in the grass. They ended up controlling all intellectual property and pushed me out literally overnight, all while still attending meetings as if nothing were going on, significantly damaging my public reputation in the process for said specific industry. Of course at the time this incident had taken a toll not just financially, as I spent a substantial amount of money fighting this takeover unsuccessfully, but perhaps my creative energies as well due to my network I built my entire life practically abandoning me haha. Now, I find myself in an environment lacking in creativity and forward-thinking, "working for the man", which could be contributing to my current creative block.

Mostly curious how many people are going through something similar. I feel like the ideas that do surface, I take manic action on, and in hindsight clearly see each one is not at ALL sustainable or achievable, like my brain has turned off playing "the long game" and is stuck in a perpetual "how to win it all back" gambling style ideas.
Well, with lower income fighting for survival instinct can kick in, because obviously you need money NOW.
 
:) Because you need to take full care of your kids also endure your wife nagging that why?
 
I started feeling exactly the same way probably around a year or two ago. I started feeling like my cognitive functions were declining and that as soon as I woke up that I had already been 'mentally checked out' for the day already.

A brain fog of sort.

At first, I changed my diet. I started eating a lot more fresh fruits and focused on getting as much antioxidants as possible. I also started very basic 'biohacking'.

Even if it might sound a bit silly at first, but I started taking a lot of these organic and natural supplements that are scientifically proven to better brain health.
For example, I take Ceylon cinnamon and Hericium erinaceus (mushroom) powder each day along with a bunch of other things I'm too lazy to list here.

Daily meditation and cold showers also helped a tiny bit.

All of that is cool and all, but I found that taking long walks in nature helped me the most.
It gets you moving, you get a breathe of fresh air, and the silence and the 'beauty' of nature just somehow kind of resets my brain from all the annoying and stressful work things that overload my brain over the day.
 
I started feeling exactly the same way probably around a year or two ago. I started feeling like my cognitive functions were declining and that as soon as I woke up that I had already been 'mentally checked out' for the day already.

A brain fog of sort.

At first, I changed my diet. I started eating a lot more fresh fruits and focused on getting as much antioxidants as possible. I also started very basic 'biohacking'.

Even if it might sound a bit silly at first, but I started taking a lot of these organic and natural supplements that are scientifically proven to better brain health.
For example, I take Ceylon cinnamon and Hericium erinaceus (mushroom) powder each day along with a bunch of other things I'm too lazy to list here.

Daily meditation and cold showers also helped a tiny bit.

All of that is cool and all, but I found that taking long walks in nature helped me the most.
It gets you moving, you get a breathe of fresh air, and the silence and the 'beauty' of nature just somehow kind of resets my brain from all the annoying and stressful work things that overload my brain over the day.
Must be J xx too much :) if u know what I mean.
 
Comfort zone.
Just change places, have new challenges and your brain starts working on its own again.
You can do extreme things, like moving country, learning a new language, facing your core fears, or simple things, like brushing your teeth with your non-dominant hand, changing your type of workout, or so on. Shuffle the cards and you will see energy flow.
This has to do with age: when you are younger, your environment tends to present more stimulis
 
Y'all crazy from this computer based lifestyle.

You don't realize how stressful it is unless you stop!

I realized and will never do any startup or capital heavy venture. It's suicide!

Computer is fcking shit!!!

Do something outside like heavy gardening, excavator work, fck some people and have fun!!! Haha

I feel fried after 2 hours working on computer. In real world it never happens!
 
I think I wouldn't want to live at that point and call an ambulance to seek immediate help as I would doubt myself how could I lose close to 200 million dollars. Years later my brain would be still confused by that event thinking "hey, I could have 200 million usd by now but have an empty bank account?!".

Regards

I heard people don't get as fast at 35 as they do at 25. For sure you only live 20s once. Most people waste them.
This very well may be the case. Perhaps I'm subconsciously stuck in another era of my life.

Read closed space is for analytical critical thinking and if you want creative inspirations and ideas you should go to open space or big places like in nature or big archaeological structures like big museums and whatever is in your city.

Try travelling around, seeing, meeting people and just participating in events.

We think if you want ideas in your field, you must only involve it... but you can get ideas and inspirations from related field and sometimes from completed unrelated field and events.

I would morning, evening walk, light running. Do yoga or workout to stretch your body.

Wanting to get back, to win back and show them is natural but not realistic and practical. As hard as it is, accepting it and letting go is the way forward. Journaling or writing it down on diary will help you immensely. You don't to suppress your feelings and emotions, you let them come, you accept them and let it pass through you. Writing it down helps. Write down, how you felt, how you are feeling and write down what is the healthy and practical way forward for you.

Very easy breathing meditation or exercise would be Wim Hof breathing method. This will help you regulate your emotions and calm your mind:

And follow these protocols from Andrew Huberman:

Wishing you the best. Please do post updates so you can keep track of yourself.
This. So a major play I've lost in all of this I think is my network and who I am rubbing elbows with. I have not been attending events, holding thinktanks with like minded folks, general daily meetings with my team was a huge for progression in my world, nothing, I have also absolutely taken steps back on my physical health over the last few years, which recently I've changed (but god damn, I've learned I'm in the worst shape of my life haha), but even the smallest step towards physical activity (light jogs/walks, riding bike again) I absolutely feel a great difference, just need to get past the hurdle of this physical struggle of being so out of shape haha.

I tend to stay pretty realistic and practical in most cases, which has served me well over time, however, it's just the creative side, and I think you're right about opening my space up, so to speak, involving myself in things that were deleted in my professional life again, putting myself back into the whirlpool of networking, etc.

As for the suggested book, do you have a link? I am only finding a book called "Closed Space" which is horror literature and western symbolism.
And also consult a therapist cause it's too heavy.

All these techniques presented above are hard to apply solo.

I've got burned on different stuff and handling it alone was impossible.

I recommend professional help. Not lawyers who as you can see aren't really lawful.

Evil lawful people - the worst kind of people. You were really unfortunate. But everyone does encounter them once in their life at least.
This is a great point. I used to be a regular with a therapist during my peak, and it was almost recreational once I realized the stigma surrounding therapy was actually bull shit. However, this also was removed from my routine along with everything else when everything went awry. I've thought about this a bunch honestly, and almost feel silly halting visits to my therapist because "i need to handle XYZ first, I'll get back to therapy when it's cleared up" LOL, maybe one of my biggest mistakes in hindsight.

That's another way of saying you're burned out.
Take a break, go chill somewhere, mountains, beaches, whatever is your thing.
I could understand seeing this maybe aligning with burnout, but I've experienced deep burnout more times than I can count in countless other ventures throughout my life, and this current era of feeling straight up dumb doesn't resemble burnout, at least to me, because my desire to create is still strong, but my creative gas tank feels empty. I think it's more aligned with a couple mentions above, ie: closed space, lack of travel, halt in recreational therapy, think-tanks (networking/events).

But, I don't know to be candid. Which is sort of why I started this thread I think.
Well, with lower income fighting for survival instinct can kick in, because obviously you need money NOW.
My income isn't low where I am now, that's not the issue I don't think. I am obviously not making the income I was in the past, but I never lived above my mental means and don't 'want' for much. Life is good in terms of income. Life is not good in terms of feeling like my creativity and drive is gone. "You are what you eat" is a big sentiment today, not only in actual diet, but my surroundings, and things I've removed or had removed from my life that were a driving force in my "GO GET EM" lifestyle previously.
:) Because you need to take full care of your kids also endure your wife nagging that why?
Haha, already got rid of the wife. Once the company was taken, she pulled the classic "bang everyone in the city" shit, but that's another story for another day, but I'll say life improved 10x without her in the picture. This is strictly me battling my own mental blocks/creative blocks at the moment. Looking to rediscover what actually drove me to do what I did in the past perhaps.
I started feeling exactly the same way probably around a year or two ago. I started feeling like my cognitive functions were declining and that as soon as I woke up that I had already been 'mentally checked out' for the day already.

A brain fog of sort.

At first, I changed my diet. I started eating a lot more fresh fruits and focused on getting as much antioxidants as possible. I also started very basic 'biohacking'.

Even if it might sound a bit silly at first, but I started taking a lot of these organic and natural supplements that are scientifically proven to better brain health.
For example, I take Ceylon cinnamon and Hericium erinaceus (mushroom) powder each day along with a bunch of other things I'm too lazy to list here.

Daily meditation and cold showers also helped a tiny bit.

All of that is cool and all, but I found that taking long walks in nature helped me the most.
It gets you moving, you get a breathe of fresh air, and the silence and the 'beauty' of nature just somehow kind of resets my brain from all the annoying and stressful work things that overload my brain over the day.
Brain Fog is a great way to describe it. I absolutely have identified my diet has been trash, and my nutritional intake has been nearly zero. I'm actively working on changing that as well. Have picked up my active lifestyle in a small way (baby steps required because holy shit i'm so out of shape now lol) but can tell it's definitely a major key in clawing out of this mental block.

Would love to hear which vitamins you recommend, those are also something I need to re-add to my routine overhaul.
Must be J xx too much :) if u know what I mean.
No. I have no clue what you mean.

Comfort zone.
Just change places, have new challenges and your brain starts working on its own again.
You can do extreme things, like moving country, learning a new language, facing your core fears, or simple things, like brushing your teeth with your non-dominant hand, changing your type of workout, or so on. Shuffle the cards and you will see energy flow.
This has to do with age: when you are younger, your environment tends to present more stimulis
Also This. I am almost certain I've fallen into a comfort zone. And when I say my creative brain has stopped, simple ideas like what you mentioned wouldn't even surface as I feel the normally would in the past. Disrupt the routine.

Come on man! 34 is not old enough. Chill!!!
Haha I know, but holy shit does it feel like it right now.


*****************************************************


On a side note, I really appreciate all of the responses, definitely some reminders and suggestions I am taking note of. I think I know the importance of journaling, but I think I've always done best in a group journal so to speak, and maybe utilizing the BHW Lounge is exactly what I needed to get my thoughts moving in a different direction, disrupting my normal routine, etc.

I am all for keeping this discussion rolling, sharing a log of what I'm actively changing to better my mental/creative block situation, in hopes of finding what works for me AND maybe helping anyone reading this along their journey too.

You guys rock. Keep 'em comin!
 
Read closed space is for analytical critical thinking and if you want creative inspirations and ideas you should go to open space or big places like in nature or big archaeological structures like big museums and whatever is in your city.

Try travelling around, seeing, meeting people and just participating in events.

We think if you want ideas in your field, you must only involve it... but you can get ideas and inspirations from related field and sometimes from completed unrelated field and events.

I would morning, evening walk, light running. Do yoga or workout to stretch your body.

Wanting to get back, to win back and show them is natural but not realistic and practical. As hard as it is, accepting it and letting go is the way forward. Journaling or writing it down on diary will help you immensely. You don't to suppress your feelings and emotions, you let them come, you accept them and let it pass through you. Writing it down helps. Write down, how you felt, how you are feeling and write down what is the healthy and practical way forward for you.

Very easy breathing meditation or exercise would be Wim Hof breathing method. This will help you regulate your emotions and calm your mind:

And follow these protocols from Andrew Huberman:

Wishing you the best. Please do post updates so you can keep track of yourself.

WIM HOFF! Totally forgot about this guy. I used to practice his technique along with mindful meditation with some of our team members! This has DEFINITELY been added to my list. Will keep progress reports of this as well.
 
Y'all crazy from this computer based lifestyle.

You don't realize how stressful it is unless you stop!

I realized and will never do any startup or capital heavy venture. It's suicide!

Computer is fcking shit!!!

Do something outside like heavy gardening, excavator work, fck some people and have fun!!! Haha

I feel fried after 2 hours working on computer. In real world it never happens!

You're not wrong. I feel the exact same always have. But I always excelled at hiring experts to handle the nitty gritty while I resumed the face of any venture I created & spent my energy on networking & relationship building. This has definitely changed. I am now glued to 3 monitors 8-12 hours a day between current professional position and personal life.
 
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