Feeling Overwhelmed? Try Untangling Your Mind With A Brain Dump.

A very effective method to reduce pent-up stress, anxiety, and depression.

Our brains can be such a mess sometimes, and not having the ability to let go of all those anxious, intrusive, obsessive, or endless to-do lists and ideas can scramble your mind so much that you struggle to focus. Not only can it lead to more stress, but it also can make you feel depressed and extremely unhappy with life.

Without a place to vent my frustrations and some form of structure in my life, I can really begin to feel restless, unhappy, and extremely overwhelmed. So how do I fix this?? Well, I like to sit down, grab a pen, and complete a brain dump.

So what exactly is a Brain Dump?

A brain dump is essentially discarding all those unwanted thoughts and feelings. Or your many to-dos out onto a blank page. If it’s causing you stress and anxiety, then release it, release it out onto the paper and let your mind relax.

Write and write until you feel an enormous sense of relief — and you can eventually take some long deep breaths. Then after that, you’ll have achieved a brain dump.

What is the purpose of a brain dump?

A brain dump’s purpose is to remove the scrambling, overthinking, and stress-inducing thoughts out of your mind by placing them somewhere else. Releasing that clutter not only helps you live more freely, but it can also do wonders for your mental health.

What can you write in a brain dump?

There are no rules, you can literally write anything you like. Some days write lists — other days write a journal entry.

You can also write to-do lists. So you can free your mind of all the many tasks you have to do. They can be anything like:

Grocery shopping lists

What have you been worried about?

When do the utility bills have to be paid?

Do you need to decorate a particular part of your home?

Any plans for a vacation?

Is anything annoying you lately?

Who or what is making you feel stressed?

What are your goals?

What to do next

When you have successfully freed everything from your mind, you can now take a good long look at your list, and identify exactly what is stressing you out the most. Then you can find a way to tackle it once and for all.

That being said, you don’t need to figure out a plan straight away. Take a moment to feel the benefits of freeing your mind from all those thoughts that have been pissing you off for days, weeks, or months.

So, put down your pen and find something else to do for a while. Then come back to it later on when you feel more determined and ready to cross everything off your lists.

Just by writing out everything, you’ve acknowledged your problems and emptied your mind. A successful brain dump does wonders for your mental health, and it’s an amazing self-care exercise.

Remember, there’s no right or wrong way to do this. You make the rules. It can look as messy or neat as you like, and It doesn’t even need to make sense. As long as you can understand it, that’s all that matters.

I try and complete a brain dump at least once or twice a week, but you figure out what works best for you.

Once you get into the habit, you’ll love it and wonder why you didn’t do it sooner. ♥