Saturday 15 September 2012

The need for processing time



Let me just start off by saying that I passed my medical driving test! This means that I’m now officially allowed to enter the driving exams. So, time to study for my theory exam. I’m a bit scared for that exam, because I’m having difficulties with studying. But put that aside, because right now we should all be happy that I passed my medical exam! I haven’t gotten an official letter about it yet, but it’s probably good for three years! Whoo!

After my medical driving test, though, my head was aching and felt really heavy. At first I was just happy and cheering, I was in complete party mode! But after about two hours my adrenaline from being so happy went away and suddenly I felt how tired I was and how much my head was hurting and feeling heavy. I went right to sleep. Afterwards, I kept having a headache and a heavy head and I just couldn’t concentrate.

I tried to relax, but the three appointments I had the next day were on my mind. I needed to go to the lung doctor, the general practitioner (I looked this word up. If it’s wrong, here’s the Dutch word: Huisarts) and to get a massage. Because I still had all the information for the medical driving test in my head and was also trying to prepare for these three appointments, while being very tired, I got in an overload of information.

It wasn’t until all these appointments were done (and the massage was done at 9 pm (21:00)) that I was able to relax a bit. My head cleared up a bit… and then I forgot my food supplements in the evening because I forgot the time (and went to bed way too late). Here we have the first time that I forgot it. I hope this won’t happen too much. Up until now I must say I’m pretty proud of myself. I’ve started last Tuesday and only forgot about it once.

Today my first appointment was at 4 pm (16:00) and I decided I wouldn’t do anything up until then. I didn’t have a single day without any appointments this week, so I decided that I earned some rest. In fact, I didn’t just earn it, I needed it. My head was full and I needed processing time. When my head is full, I can hardly remember anything and I keep forgetting simple tasks. Do you know the feeling after a whole year of school? That end of the year, about two weeks before Summer Break? You do everything that you have to do, but actually your head is full and you’re in a need for a big holiday. People can try and teach you new things and you’ll try your best to get into it, but actually all you can think about is Summer Break.

This, to me, is what a mild information overload feels like. Whenever I feel like that, I know I need to have some time without any appointments or other things that I MUST do. Actually, I need some processing time. Some me-time. When you look at me, it seems like it’s just some time to play games on the computer, or browse on the internet. The only reason I do that is to occupy myself so the information in my head won’t drive me crazy, but to not occupy myself with something that just causes more information overload.

So I choose to do something simple that I feel like doing at that point in time. This can be watching a movie, playing a game, browsing the internet… Sometimes, when the overload is just a little bit worse, I spent an hour or two laying in bed, looking at the wall. It’s not that the wall is that interesting, but just that my head is way too occupied to do anything else at that point in time. That’s okay, I’m actually really busy while looking at that wall. I’m busy processing my day. I’m not specifically thinking about something, but my head is just exploding with information and needs to calm down.

After it has calmed down, my whole body relaxes a lot more. This is also needed to preserve more energy in the long run, because an overload can drain me from all my energy. So contrary to what some people believe, processing time isn’t just another word for wanting a free day to rest up a bit. It’s actually some time that’s highly necessary to be able to function in life again.

Right now I feel a bit better than before, because I had a few hours of processing time. My headache is gone and my head doesn’t feel as heavy as it did. It’s still not enough though, I’m not back to my old self yet, but I’m running out of free days for processing. But, even though I do have some things to do tomorrow, I don’t have to take in a lot of information. So that’s good. I’ll be fine.

1 comment:

  1. Mooi dat je je rijtest hebt gehaald.
    Gefeliciteerd :)

    ReplyDelete