A few days ago, Sarah shared with me a piece about a neurologist in Zurich who said the brain does not burn out from stress. It burns out from emotional overthinking. My response to Sarah about this information led to this piece.
I decided to title it ‘Closing the Tabs’ because I know most of us can relate, especially during this time of the year. Most of us are not tired because life is too heavy. We are tired because our minds never stop spinning.
I have lived in that place for a long time. A place where ideas, tasks, memories, worries and unfinished plans float around like open tabs on a browser. Over the years I developed a habit where I leave the tabs on my browser open so that when I come back tomorrow, I can trace where I was and what I was doing. This made me lazy, and I could easily procrastinate on important assignments just because the tab is still open somewhere and ‘I can always get back to it.’ Little did I know that even my mind was doing the same thing most days. Too many tabs open. Too many thoughts left un-actioned. Too many loops running quietly in the background.
Recently I noticed that the things exhausting me were not major problems. They were tiny, incomplete things. Messages I planned to respond to, ideas I saved on Instagram and promised myself I would try. Pins on Pinterest that looked beautiful but never left the screen. Even people I kept meaning to call but kept postponing because something else came up. Those little loops drained me faster than any crisis at work.
So, I started doing something simple. Whenever something comes up, I write it down and I act on it. Even if the action is small. I take the step and record the progress. And something interesting happens. My mind opens up again. The fog clears. I feel lighter. Creative. Present. It is similar to closing ten tabs on a browser and suddenly the laptop breathes again.
I also learned that the body is the quickest way to interrupt the spinning. If I get home after a long day and sit on the couch, doom scrolling while waiting for dinner, my mind keeps running like I am still at work. But if I get home and attend to my poultry or water the garden, something shifts. The physical interruption breaks the loop. My brain finally rests. And on those days, I never reach 10 pm without sleep knocking me out. Also, exercising after a long working day has the same effect.
Our lives today demand so much attention. Notifications, deadlines, ambitions, plans, and the constant pressure to be better. It is easy to think we are tired from the work itself, but most of our exhaustion comes from what we leave unfinished in our heads. The truth that the neurologist shared is this. “We do not collapse because we feel too much. We collapse because we never stop processing.”
As we end this year; which has been a lot, maybe the invitation is simple. Close the tabs. Not just on your phone or laptop, but in your mind. Finish the small things. Act on the ideas you have saved. Make the call you have postponed. Bring your thoughts back into your body. Take one step at a time.
Clarity is physical before it becomes mental. And peace begins the moment you choose to interrupt the loop.
Benson Mcharo - Fanisi Alumni Intake 7 and currently Fanisi Program Communications Coordinator.