I'm finishing my undergrad this year and I have to say I have one, quite big issue.
I am incapable of thinking. My thoughts are shallow, and I'm having trouble with anything that requires mental effort from me. My attention span is short, and even in environment with no distractions I am constantly with my head in the clouds.
Even with writing I have issues. Both in my native language, and in English, whenever I try to speak up, few sentences is all I can do.
I remember I wasn't always like that, at least to that extent - because I always dealt with not being able to focus or being easily distracted. But now there's this part of not being able to think too.
If any of you dealt with that, what are the steps to start facing up to this?
Eg if you just constantly type at a computer screen and have recurring moments of waiting for your mind to recall what you are attempting to do next.. well maybe that’s because effective coding involves jumping around a lot, and each new atomic idea involves making a new chain of jumps, while tracking what you just did and what you want to do next and what you still have been putting off. So instead get a piece of paper and try thinking in drawn sketches.
Or if you are having lots of thoughts that bubble and then fizz before you have strung them together well, try just freely speaking into an audio recording while going on a walk, using some app that automatically transcribes it etc so you can revisit it in a new order later.
Or if you have some other sense of thought obstruction, just try to figure out what the “big thing” you are avoiding perceiving your thoughts about are, by dumping anything that comes to mind, or by rearranging the structure of your environment, or noticing your digestive system sensations etc..
If there are too many audio signals, try noise canceling headphones. Or if you feel like your energy reserves are prohibiting your mind from even letting you spend the mental energy to open the door to thoughts you think you might want to think about, then go to bed, etc.
If speech isn’t working for you, then try to use the images that you might ‘see’ for the messages you feel aren’t easily heard, etc. we are somewhat fortunate to be able to sense the cost of communication while also having many means at our disposal to get them across, both to confirm to ourselves, or to be recognized by good faith companions. But the right move for a given situation may look like something not easily verifiable externally, I guess.