Win, Lose, or Forfeit

We all have our ways of thinking, ways of gathering information, and then using this information to make assessments about the future.

With my mind, it happens like this: an event happens. The information from the event enters my mind, the database. I then have to sort through the data, and put them in the appropriate folders that have already been created. With this system, everything is neatly compartmentalized, but sometimes, things can go wrong.

A scenario could happen where too many events happen at once, and the little people in my head are scrambling to put it away fast enough. They are trying to put everything in the appropriate folder, and the more things that happen, the more the little people in my mind (which I will now refer to as the Zoops) search around, going as fast as I can to put stuff away. Unfortunately, there can be an overload, and there is a back up in the system. There is too much to put away, so the system begins to shut down, and when that happens watch out. I don't have access to my folders anymore so I might say things that are out of character, and that could be disasterous.

To prevent this or to stop it before it reaches this point, it is necessary for me to take time off from people, and give my little Zoops the chance to sort everything into folders, and tidy everything away. If there is a back up, the right thing to do is not give my mind information, but rather to stop before the threshold and maintain sanity. These are the times where I am alone, and I just need time to think. When this happens, crisis averted.

Now another thing that could go wrong in this system is that I get information that I have never had to deal with before, and I don't already have a folder created for this information. The Zoops are then put into a frenzy trying to make a folder and appropriately label the folder for easy access but because I have never had experience with the information, I'm not totally sure how to process it; I'm not totally sure what to do with it. I'm not even totally sure what it is. So at this point, there is a time to freak out, not know what is going on, what the information really is, or even if the information will implode. I watch this information, and poke at it until in time I figure it out, or until I put it in a folder called UNKNOWN, and not fiddle with it until further notice.

Shocking information is also another thing that shakes the Zoops right up. Here they are, neatly putting things away, making sure the folders are neatly organized, labeled, and laminated. However, when something totally shocking, something totally unexpected, something totally out of the ordinary happens, the BOOM! What to do, what to do??? They didn't plan for back-up, and this is so large that Zoops who are normally stationed in specific departments are then having to leave their posts, and go take care of the situation. But since they left their post, the work they would normally do goes unattended creating a huge mess.

In the end, there is some stabilization whether I want it or not, either by me taking some time off, or by my mind completely shutting off and having a break down. This is a plea to those who find themselves in a place where they seem to lose control. Take some time off, gather your thoughts and spend some time alone. Get away from people, things, anything that could threaten you and push you over the edge and find yourself, because if you neglect your mind, you have forfeited your sanity.