I Have A Sponge Brain; Do You?

because some of our brains are just different

And different has no positive/negative value — different is just different!

I have recently started calling my brain a sponge brain. Or a warehouse storage facility brain. Here’s why…..

Sponge Brain

I am an incessant reader; always have been. I read almost every word my eyes see — on buses, trains, billboards, bulletin boards, and, of course, books. I can’t help it. Even if I am not aware of reading them, if there are words in my visual field, they enter my brain. I thought about this and decided my brain was like a sponge. It absorbs every word and stores it somewhere in there.

I write [squeeze out?] a lot of those words into stories like this, or into courses, or books — but as soon as I start writing, new words and ideas form and they also need outlets — so I have many documents with started stories. I do a brain dump every morning [I call it mental meandering] by talking into my computer. I hate typing, love dictating, talk fast, and can churn out lots of verbiage with my first 2 cups of coffee. I have lots and lots of words in my computer files…..and in that sponge.

Warehouse Storage Facility Brain

Next — the warehouse storage concept. My brain takes in all that stuff [words and images] and connects it, sorts it, stores it, etc. —and I love Costco — so the idea came to my sponge that it was also like a warehouse. When I start to put words and ideas out into the world, it’s not like that same amount of warehouse space just gets refilled. Nope! It EXPANDS!! [I think places like Costco could only hope for this kind of ever-expanding storage space in a set amount of square footage.]

Hmmm — maybe I should say I have a spongy warehouse brain.

New thoughts come in as I dictate, my brain thinks of, or mentally creates new images that can go along with the words. It sees new concepts that can be put into courses, etc. My brain is always working, always taking in new material and doing its thing with all that new [and older] stuff…My spongy warehouse works all night as well. I often wake up with ideas of what to write, create, formulate, etc. Apparently, my brain needs far less sleep than I do… But I do know a lot about how brains work and know it is getting its rest, even when it is working…it’s one of the things I love about brains.

With my kind of brain, I have tended to be interested in a lot of things — and good at a lot of those different things too. I’ve often said I am so glad I was in school before ADD and ADHD were “discovered.” My varied interests were encouraged by my family and teachers. I write about what I find interesting and teach courses on many different topics. If you look at my profile, you see I have 2 advanced degrees — in 2 different fields. I still tell people “I don’t know what I want to be when I grow up.” There are so many more choices that can be made.

Only as an adult, did I learn that there are many people like me, with brains like mine, but we are not a majority. We are called polymaths, scanners, or as I label it: nonlinear brained. Or now — spongy warehouse brains.

I like my brain, we have a long history, a long relationship, and we understand each other better and better every day. But others out there do not “get” us. Once I was talking with a marketing “expert” who asked me what my niche was and I said I had many — dead silence — then — “maybe you are ADHD.” When I ask marketing people what is wrong with having many interests I get told that I won’t know who [that one niche] to sell my products to….My reply is to say “so I’ll sell products to many niches”…and I get silence….

It’s okay to have a different brain. Remember that different does not mean good or bad. But what I have found is that you need to stand your ground when the alleged “well-meaning” people start telling you that you are ADHD!

I find it quite fascinating that non-credentialed people tell me I am ADHD [or strongly suggest it] while I, with the Ph.D. in Psychology, tell them they are wrong and they are unhappy with me and my reply. But, as I have learned, such is the life of those of us with different brains; especially with spongy warehouse brains.

And now I had better stop working on this short piece because it has given my spongy warehouse brain so much more to think about…..