Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: How to regain my mind back?

news.ycombinator.com

1–10 of 36 posts

Ask HN: How to regain my mind back?

#1
Over the last few months i have created a few threads where i ask questions which exposed some insecurities and/or things that currently trouble me. In my last question i asked "How can I come to peace with the years I wasted on pointless things?". The overwhelming number of answers in that thread really helped me. Since then my mind is a bit calmer, and my mental health is more stable. Now, this improvement is probably more due to start taking the correct medication around the same time i made the thread, but i do believe the variety, the diversity, but also uniformity of the answers helped me to put some things into perspective and changed my thinking.

From that point on I took the opportunity to make some small, but crucial changes in my every day life. Some change are: Thinking what i want my daily life to look like, what i have space for in my life, introducing rules on how i spend my time, stop using SM platforms, or limiting the usage to bare minimum for the platforms i need to have some access, exercising and more. The book "Digital minimalism" by Cal Newport informs my efforts. I highly recommend it.

Now, the reason i make this thread is because i have noticed that i «forgot» how to think and engage with others. What i mean by that, assuming that i once knew how to do these things, currently i feel i can't think, It's like my mind has become passive, just consuming without processing. I have difficulties with evaluating information when reading articles or when i participate in conversations, a lot of times i feel my mind blank like i have nothing to say (in serious and non-serious conversations), having difficulty forming opinions besides on basic black and white topics. Another example that i realized fairly recently is that i don't evaluate a comment, a post, etc on my own but rely on others opinions with the comments, upvotes/downvotes, shadowbanning, etc they do.

Re: Ask HN: How to regain my mind back?

#3
- Reduce inputs (social media, etc as you mentioned).

- Exercise daily.

- Eat well. Don’t consume much: caffeine, alcohol, refined sugar.

- Get plenty of sleep.

- Read books.

And seriously consider:

- Speaking to a mental health counselor. They can be heaps of useful.

Re: Ask HN: How to regain my mind back?

#4
Do you have other types of thoughts in those moments? What if your mind started focusing more on how it feels to breathe, or on how cold the smell around is or etc and that's why part of your mind stops the computation of the parts connected to the external communication connections?

Re: Ask HN: How to regain my mind back?

#5
post #3

- Reduce inputs (social media, etc as you mentioned). - Exercise daily. - Eat well. Don’t consume much: caffeine, alcohol, refined sugar. - Get plenty of sleep. - Read books. And seriously consider: - Speaking to a mental health counselor. They can be heaps of useful.

Good and simple advice.

Re: Ask HN: How to regain my mind back?

#6

Do you have other types of thoughts in those moments? What if your mind started focusing more on how it feels to breathe, or on how cold the smell around is or etc and that's why part of your mind stops the computation of the parts connected to the external communication connections?

My point being: what if you have your mind fully active, but just focused on things that are more difficult to measure.

Re: Ask HN: How to regain my mind back?

#7

Do you have other types of thoughts in those moments? What if your mind started focusing more on how it feels to breathe, or on how cold the smell around is or etc and that's why part of your mind stops the computation of the parts connected to the external communication connections?

My point being: what if you have your mind fully active, but just focused on things that are more difficult to measure.

Things that are unquantifiable, imponderable, invisible, etc.

Unsure how to describe them such that you have the same understanding as me.

Re: Ask HN: How to regain my mind back?

#8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My point being: what if you have your mind fully active, but just focused on things that are more difficult to measure.

Things that are unquantifiable, imponderable, invisible, etc. Unsure how to describe them such that you have the same understanding as me.

You might not have noticed, you can go back and edit your comment up to an hour or two after posting.

Re: Ask HN: How to regain my mind back?

#9
post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Things that are unquantifiable, imponderable, invisible, etc. Unsure how to describe them such that you have the same understanding as me.

You might not have noticed, you can go back and edit your comment up to an hour or two after posting.

Uii, I didn't! Thanks!

Re: Ask HN: How to regain my mind back?

#10
It's ok to not process somethings/sometimes. For one, it frees the decision/thinking process up for better/more worthy mental pursuits as decision/thinking is a mental finite resource. For two, it buys time to remember there are other alternatives than the gut/first response.

You might just be seeing how void much discussion in various places actually is of true significance. (Going for walks has helped me see this before as it seems to 'clear the mind'.) Like that scene in Breaking Bad when Hank tells Walt to "shut up, he's already made up his mind. He's just waiting for you to shut up."

This might be a time for you to re-explore for yourself what your goals and definitions of what you want/don't want are. There are likely things/discussions within which you simply have no interest. This is healthy.

Post reply on HN