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Pearls Perfected Institute

Is Your Brain Tired of Election Season?

Oct 21 / Dr. Janice R. Love

I don’t know about you, but lately it feels like everybody wants my attention. My mailbox wants it. My inbox wants it. My phone wants it. Television wants it. The radio wants it. And social media definitely wants it.

 

Election season has a way of showing up everywhere. Emails, text messages, commercials, postcards, videos, news alerts and social media posts. Then there are the deadlines, opinions, arguments, predictions, and information about how much money is being spent this election.

And even if you have already voted, the clutter does not necessarily stop. The emails and texts keep coming. The commercials are getting more frequent and your mailbox is still piling up. Social media keeps serving up one more opinion, one more reaction, one more reason somebody thinks you should be paying attention. So even though your ballot may already be cast, your brain may still be dealing with the noise of election season.


This means one thing for the brain: Clutter.

 

All of this is not just political advertising or information, it’s clutter! And clutter has a way of making the brain work harder than we realize.

Clutter Is More Than a Messy Room

When we hear the word clutter, most of us probably think about a closet that needs cleaning out or papers piled on the kitchen counter. But clutter can show up in at least three places:

Physical clutter, digital clutter, and mental clutter. And all three can compete for our attention.

That was one of the lessons I recently taught about brain health: a cluttered environment can keep pulling at our attention, while too much visual input creates unnecessary mental noise.

 

Think about election mail for a minute. You pick it up from the mailbox. You glance at it and tell yourself you will look at it later. Then it sits on the counter and tomorrow another piece arrives.

Then another. Pretty soon there is a stack. You may not be actively thinking about that stack, but every time you walk past it, your brain still registers that something is sitting there waiting to be dealt with. Clutter doesn’t always scream. Sometimes it quietly whispers: Don’t forget about me.

 

Then There Is Digital Clutter

This may be the biggest one during election season. Your phone buzzes and you look only to realize it is a political text. You delete it and may even try to block it and then two minutes later, another notification. Then an email. Then somebody sends you a video. Then you open social media “for just a minute,” and suddenly you are reading comments from people you do not even know arguing about something you were not thinking about five minutes earlier.

 

Our digital environments generate a steady stream of information that the brain has to notice, filter, and decide what to do with. Too many notifications, messages, emails, and open digital threads can scatter attention and keep the brain from settling. Here’s what I know for certain: Every message does not deserve access to your brain just because somebody figured out how to get access to your phone.

 

That  might be worth reading again. We have become so accustomed to being reachable that we sometimes forget we still get to decide what gets our attention.

 

And Then the Clutter Moves Into Our Heads

This is the part we may notice least. The commercial ends. You delete the email and you throw away the postcard. You close the app, but the thought stays. Now you are irritated or worried.

Or replaying something somebody said or mentally responding to a comment. Or wondering what is going to happen. Or the worst, having an argument in your head with somebody who is nowhere around. That is mental clutter.

 

Worry, unfinished thoughts, emotional residue, unresolved conversations, and all the things we keep carrying around in our minds take up cognitive space too. A crowded mind can feel forgetful simply because too much is competing for limited mental workspace at the same time.

And that is where election season can become more than annoying. It can become exhausting.

 

Staying Informed Is Not the Same as Staying Inundated

I am not suggesting that we tune out completely. We need to be informed. We need to pay attention to issues that matter to us and we need to vote. But being informed does not require us to consume every message that comes our way. And once you have voted, you may need even less of that noise. Casting your vote can bring closure to a decision, but it does not automatically bring quiet to your environment. You may have to create some of that quiet yourself. Protecting your brain does not mean checking out. It means becoming more intentional about what you continue to let in.

Maybe It Is Time for an Election-Season Brain Declutter

You do not have to delete every app, clean your entire house, or go off the grid. In fact, trying to overhaul everything at once can create more overwhelm. Sometimes one small change is enough to create some relief. That was another key point from my bootcamp clutter lesson: one cleared surface, one quieter corner, or one simplified digital habit can reduce the amount of information your brain has to manage. Here are a few places to start.

·      Unsubscribe without guilt. If you are getting multiple emails saying essentially the same thing, you do not need all of them.

·      Silence some notifications. You can decide when you want to check your messages instead of allowing every ping to decide for you.

·      Deal with the mail. Read what you need. Keep what is important. Throw the rest away.

·      Choose when you consume news. You can stay informed without having commentary running in the background all day.

·      Clear the mental leftovers. Write it down or pray about it. Talk it through. Take a walk or step away from the screen. And then give yourself permission to release it.

 

Sometimes I have to remind myself: There are things I need to know. There are things I need to pray about. There are things I need to act on. And there are things I simply need to let go.

 

Your Brain Needs Somewhere Quiet to Land

One of my favorite scriptures says: “For God is not a God of disorder but of peace.” — 1 Corinthians 14:33. I like that word peace. Because peace does not require us to be uninformed nor does it require everyone around us to agree. And it certainly does not require us to ignore what is happening in the world. But peace may require boundaries. Sometimes peace looks like turning off the television. Sometimes it looks like muting the group chat. Sometimes it looks like deleting the email without reading every word. And sometimes it looks like saying, “I have already made my decision. I do not need to keep carrying this.”


Election season will eventually end but information overload will not. So maybe this is a good time to practice deciding what deserves access to your attention. Every notification does not require a response. Every opinion does not require your emotional energy. Every piece of information does not deserve space in your head.

 

And remember: Every message does not deserve access to your brain just because somebody figured out how to get access to your phone.

 

Protect your peace, and your focus and give your brain some room to breathe.

 

 Less clutter around you can create more clarity within you.

 

Blessings,

Dr. Janice R. Love
In Her Right Mind

 


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