The beauty and brilliance of braindumping (and how to do it RIGHT!)

In counseling last week, we talked about a new idea to me – our emotional bathtubs. Think of your regular bathtub at home, but instead of water, it’s filled with all our feelings – stress, exhaustion, etc.

Unlike regular bathtubs, our emotional tubs can go from empty to IMMEDIATELY FULL within seconds – often when we’re overcome by emotions, stress, or a new situation. We’ve got all the feelings, but our tub can’t hold them in anymore, and suddenly they are spilling over into places and onto people they were never intended to.

And while it can take mere seconds for our emotional bathtubs to fill up, draining them takes quite a bit of time, just like a regular bathtub. We’ve got to pull the plug and wait for the water to clear. Slowly.

I had one of those FULL TUB moments a couple of weeks ago. We’d just started the school year and I’d been looking forward to new routines and time to get things done – things I’d let go during the summer. But as soon as the year began, we all got sick, one right after another. Fevers, rashes, the whole ridiculous thing, and it lasted for two full weeks.

Two weeks I’d planned on using to get stuff done, but instead spent all my time administering oils, passing out ibuprofen, and washing everything. Twice.

Towards the end of those weeks, I could feel the stress building up inside me. Now I was even MORE behind, and I couldn’t even remember all the things I knew I was supposed to be doing! Nothing was organized and I felt so scattered, I couldn’t even figure out where to start when I DID have a little time to work.

I could feel myself on the verge of screaming at everyone and everything, so I excused myself with a notebook, a pen + paper, and my headphones. I put on some calming music and started making THE LIST.

Braindumping to relieve stress

The scattered feeling of not being able to remember everything I want to remember always gives me a bit of panic. So, I started by writing down everything I could remember – my master list of THINGS TO DO.

There was no order to the list – the point was just to get everything out of my head and onto paper. And , as always, when I started writing things down, I remembered more. After a few minutes, I’d gotten all of my stress written out in black and white. And I could feel my bathtub draining.

This clearing of mental clutter – getting everything out of my head and onto paper, it’s incredibly life-giving.

As women, there’s SO MUCH that we’re managing in our heads on a daily basis. When we give ourselves a physical place to write things down, instead of giving up our mental space trying to remember them, our stress level plummets, and our productivity actually increases.

Organizing the brain dump

Here’s the thing – it’s not enough to just get everything out of our heads. We must then manage it. After everything has been dumped onto THE LIST, I started to prioritize – in two ways.

1. I prayed over the list and asked the Lord if there was anything I really could let go of. Almost always, there are a few things I can cross out that don’t really need to get done.
2. I went through the remaining list with three colored highlighters. Each color stands for a level of urgency. If something needs to be done immediately, it will be yellow. If it needs to be done soon, I’ll make it pink. If it’s not urgent, I’ll make it blue.
3. Once everything was highlighted, I went through each color and NUMBERED those tasks in order of importance. Everything in yellow gets a number, starting with 1. Then, everything in pink gets a number, starting with 1. Same for blue.
4. Lastly, I re-wrote my list IN ORDER. All the yellows went first, in number order. Then the pinks, then the blues.
5. Finally, I had an actual, doable to-do list in my hands. And a much more clear mind and heart.

Listen, stopping after you’ve just braindumped your whole list might help you get everything out of your head, but it WON’T help you make progress on those things – so your stress is bound to come right back. And that’s not what we want.

THAT is why I prioritize with colors and numbers. Organizing that list into three ordered sections is SO HELPFUL! It gives me a straightforward plan of attack, and I find myself a whole lot more clear on what I’m supposed to be doing, and when it needs to get done.

I’ll be honest – I do this EVERY TIME I feel overwhelmed. Braindumping, and then creating a prioritized list, is so beneficial for my mental well-being. Without it, I’m scrambling around to find something, anything to do, just so I can say I’m being productive.

Instead of that fruitless process, clearing the clutter in my head gives me space to relax, take a deep breath, and then confidently move forward on something that actually matters to me (and my family).

Braindumping is my very favorite strategy to use when I’m overwhelmed, when my bathtub is full of ALL THE FEELINGS. Generally, getting my thoughts, roles, and responsibilities organized helps me make a BIG step in the right direction – from scattered toward steadfast.

How about you? Do you ever braindump? What’s your process? Tell me in the comments below!

P.S. If you want my worksheet to move from braindump to prioritized list, you can get it by subscribing below!