Conquering Brain Fog
And a bit about what's going on at Whippoorwill Creek Farm
I have been trying to write. Trying…and not succeeding.
I’ve had a rather intense case of brain fog ever since the election. I feel both like it doesn’t matter at all what I have to say and like every word is the most important thing I will ever write. It’s paralyzing really, to know that I am a tiny speck of nothingness on the earth while also believing that now is the time to get out there, to do, to make an impact. It’s time to get our A-game on, and here I am, drooling on the couch.
Some of it is, of course, leadership-induced—I am not a Trump fan and have a heap of anxiety around his presidency. But much of it also feels like a product of my age. I am 56, young by many measures, and yet solidly in the phase of my life where I want to make my mark, to do something important. It’s go time.
Don’t get me wrong, I do things even when I am not writing (the drooling on the couch was a bit of hyperbole).
We just held a dinner in the barn for 30 people, with almost the entire menu from our farm. Chefs Zach and Cody cooked up a storm with John and the space came alive with delicious food and conversation.
The cows just finished calving too.
We fed the goats the squash we used at the dinner event. (Be sure to turn up the sound to hear the munching.)
And, despite all of the treats we feed them, the goats just sometimes have to be goats and escape to the neighbor’s hay field.
And although I had nothing to do with it, Julia McGuire saved some bees on the farm and the video of her work is cool to watch. The bees made a nest tucked into the tree leaves, but when fall hit, they were completely exposed to the elements. She took them home to a box where they can be warm and she will feed them throughout the winter.
But, alas…my writing. How to focus when the world around you is a circus, the full three-ring kind where animals do tricks, macho men wrestle lions, and clowns suck up all of your attention.
A writing retreat, I say!
We are holding one on December 1st here on the farm. I can’t wait to sit silently, be fed good food (thanks John), and WRITE. Or perhaps even more importantly, be with writers who often suffer from the same lack of productivity as I do and can help me get jump started putting fingers to keyboard.
And if you can’t get here but are feeling the woes of brain fog? Plan your own day away this holiday season, where you give yourself the gift of a day to drink tea, eat good food, and write.
Reading is a great way to get motivated about writing. I am reading Bird by Bird to try to get my mojo back.
But (a small plug) my book Bet the Farm: The Dollars and Sense of Growing Food in America is on sale for 50% off, along with all the other titles at Island Press (like Austin Frerick’s Barons, Healing Grounds by Liz Carlisle and Invisible No More, edited by Raymond Foxworth and Steve Dunn.
Books for holiday gifts? Heck yeah.
Check out lots of great writers in the Iowa Writer’s Collaborative Sunday Round-up. Subscribe to get the list of stories for the week to your inbox on Sunday mornings (so beautifully old school, no?!)
If you are a paid subscriber to this or any IWC column—we hope to see you at the Iowa Writers Collaborative Holiday Party on December 13. We will gather in one of the newest buildings on Drake’s campus, the Tom and Ruth Harkin Institute for Public Policy, 2800 University Avenue, Des Moines. You can meet and mingle with the brilliant writers forging a new way for media to thrive in Iowa.
Let us know if you plan to attend and see you there!
Ah, Beth. I, too, was concerned over the election results, but by good fortune chanced upon two strangers, right after November 5. One was a paraeducator, wife and mother of three school-aged children, who was nearing completion of her teaching degree. A few minutes later, I fell into conversation with a music therapist who has nearly finished her nursing degree. She loved music therapy, working with patients with dementia, but was thwarted during covid because she was "non-essential" -- not anymore!
So, yeah, let's continue our work and strive for better lives for all. Thanks for your words, Beth.
I looked up the definition of brain fog and found this - “The term is colloquial, not scientific - experts label it cognitive impairment.” I did not experience this during Covid, but I often heard people talking about. A week after the election it hit me that was what I was experiencing. I have been avoiding post election analysis and trying to find grounding in my own mind. Not quite on solid ground yet but getting there. Thank you for sharing.