My brain works with structure.  I put things into imaginary spreadsheets, liking big ideas in chunks, and allows me to reference a whole bunch of stuff really quickly.  It allows me to absorb a new situation, reference previous occasions for options, evaluate those options, and take action without a whole lot of panic.

Well, more like a duck on the water – peaceful on the surface but paddling like crazy underwater.

With that, there’s an upper limit on the amount of new data I can absorb in any given time.  That number changes based on fatigue, hunger, and mood.  Right now, I’m running at about 120% intake.  It’s making me lose focus in other areas to make up for the backlog.  A week or so ago I was running a squat routine, clearly lost focus in the middle of a rep, then felt a tweak.  A wake up call I guess.

And sleep is harder to come by too.  My brain is digesting all my normal things (wife, kids, job, hobbies) and now has to deal with

• wife & kids return to school
• new kids activities and scheduling
• new job starting in a week
• job opportunity for an interesting position, outside comfort zone
• coaching duties for kids hockey (start of year is crazy)
• friends in social circle going through really rough spots
• my comp hockey team needing WAY TOO MANY SPARES

The act of digesting all this new intake means a lot of brainpower and not enough hours in the day.  So I’m now thinking about this stuff when I would normally be resting.  Falling asleep is taking longer.  I am dreaming about these things.  I am putting them in their boxes, and building plans to – for lack of a better term – mentally survive.

The good news here is that nearly all of this is good problems to have, and they are extremely rewarding.  I also know that quite a few of these items will get dramatically better in the next 2-3 weeks.  Having managed way more chaos for longer periods of time, I know that this is just a speed bump.

For now, I am hyper-focused and obsessed with this new data set.  Just need to ensure that the essentials that make my family health & happy are not neglected.  Writing about it, that’s a big part of it.  Best cure for everything is sunlight.