Brain Freeze

Unbeknownst to me, my brain has chosen to take a break.  It has frozen up and refused to cooperate with simple tasks such as remembering what I walked into a room for, if I have let the dogs in/out, if I put detergent in the washing machine and has flatly refused to be counseled on the critical topic of if I should get out of my pajamas before noon.  Not that I don’t think my gray matter deserves a bit of a vacation from all the overtime it has been putting in lately, with the assorted festive accoutrements, house guests, teenage drama, love muffin “stuff” and dog slobber.  But, a little forewarning of its impending retreat would have been the decent thing to do.

I should have seen it coming. It happens every year.  The calm after the storm, so to speak when the frenzied pace of the season reverts back to the slower everyday hectic mode that you know and love.  Annually, I rise from the ordinary and mundane of my daily rituals and tackle the obstacles of extra shopping, cooking, and entertaining for the holiday with glee and delight.  It is as though I train for the other eleven months for this opportunity to spread a little cheer.

Then, as quickly as it begins, December and the infamous yearly hub-bub is over.  Ornaments are put back into their boxes; new clothes that Santa brought are ceremoniously stuffed into the closet, left-overs tossed out and those extra pounds nesting in conspicuous places are pondered.  The visions of sugar plums have been replaced with images of catching up with friends for informational exchange (i.e. rejuvenating brain fodder or gossip, as it may be better known) in the local coffee house.

Not too fast, just when you think your revered routine will be put back into action, you remember – because they need to be fed daily – that the little darlings haven’t gone back to school yet.  Put on pause any thought of getting those essential five minutes you give yourself to rejuvenate your energies and spirit.  Anyone with kids will tell you, school breaks are hell and whoever invented them probably didn’t have children and should be shot.  Two weeks off from reading and writing can’t be good for the kids and it has been established it isn’t the best for the parents either.

It is not uncommon for me to have no communication with my cerebral command center for hours at a time – this has been happening for years and it doesn’t phase me.  I have no problem catching up for lost time.  However, it is different after the holidays.  Add that on to my, shall we say “aging process” and my ramp up after weeks of down time isn’t happening as quickly as it once did.

Perhaps I am getting more sentimental in my old age and learning to enjoy the simple things.  Or, I haven’t been as mindful to the needs of my cerebrum, cerebellum, pituitary gland, brain stem and hypothalamus as I should have been and it is showing me who the real boss of me really is.  So, in the spirit of being good to my brain (and you to yours) in the hopes of quicker response and recall, memory rejuvenation and instantaneous interaction, I have found the best things to do are (I found this on the internet, so it must be true):

You know the adage… be good to your brain and it will be good to you.  Doesn’t sound too difficult, if I can just remember to do it.

Cynthia A. McClelland, curious observer of the obvious with interpretations of the oddities of daily life.  Mother, wife and lover of the furry, resides in the north Lake Tahoe area.

Cynthia A. McClelland © 2003-