Brain Fog!

I Delivered My Best Ever Presentation on Brain Fog, I Just Wasn’t There For It.

Last weekend I was due to present to Cancer Support New Zealand, something I volunteer to do as a charity close to my heart.

The topic? Brain fog.

What causes it, what it feels like, what we can do about it.

There was just one small problem: I completely forgot to turn up myself!

No reminder, no ‘I’d better check the time,’ no last-minute nerves before going online.

Just, well, nothing.

Now, in my defence, your honour, I’ve spent years talking about how busy minds get overloaded. How stress, fatigue, and emotional load can quietly hijack our thinking.

Even I had to laugh at the irony - a talk about brain fog lost in brain fog.

Brain fog isn’t a lack of intelligence; it’s a lack of bandwidth.

When your brain is overloaded, whether from stress, trauma, illness, or (in this case) life, it starts dropping non-essential files.

Unfortunately, sometimes those non-essential files are, well, an entire presentation.

If brain fog ever pays you a visit, here are a few things that actually help:
🧠 Externalise Your Brain - Don't trust your head to hold it. If it’s not written on a giant sticky note, put in your digital calendar with three loud alarms, or shouted at a smart speaker, it doesn't exist.
🧠 The ‘One Thing’ Rule - When you have a million things spinning, your brain freezes. Pick one micro-task. Clear one email. Fold three shirts. Total focus on a small win restarts the engine.
🧠 Change the Sensory Channel - If you're staring blankly at a screen, your brain is stuck in a loop. Break it physically. Splash ice-cold water on your face, step outside for brisk fresh air, or blast a song. Shock the nervous system out of the fog.
🧠 Be Kind to Yourself - Stress makes cognitive fatigue worse. Beating yourself up just locks the fog in place. Laugh, apologise, and reset. In my case, I went for a run shuffle.

Despite decades of work in crisis negotiation and years in mental health and resilience, I’m still human.

Sometimes being human looks like missing your own session on brain fog.

To Cancer Support New Zealand, thank you for your understanding (and your humour about it). I promise next time I’ll be there.