Pandemic Brain
Soothing nature scenes, escape to Alaska, hypnotic sand slicing, and bedtime stories.
Hello there,
There’s been a lot of talk about “pandemic brain” over the past year and how isolation and stress has wrecked havoc with our cognitive function. There’s also been a lot of talk about burnout and why this particular moment of the pandemic could be a tricky transition for our traumatized brains. So sometimes, you just need something very simple to entertain you when you feel you have no brain cells left.
Watch
Moving Art (Netflix) is a nature series that’s not terribly different from some of those 4K YouTube nature videos out there: it’s just gorgeous, hypnotic scenes with music. And that’s it. I’ve been watching random episodes and I’ve enjoyed the ones in tropical locations. It’s great for when your brain is fully fried.
A World of Calm (HBO) is a weird show (The New Yorker called it “anti-entertainment”) in which soothing, visually beautiful scenes are narrated by celebrities. There are nature episodes on forests, a coral reef, and outer space; others, like the noodles episode, are a little weirder. Again, this is strictly for when your brain has turned to soup.
Read
In this newsletter, I try to recommend books I’ve really enjoyed, largely due to their quality. But sometimes you have to give a book credit for its pure entertainment value. The Great Alone, about a family that moves to Alaska in the 1970s, is a book that deeply annoyed me from beginning to end. But despite my pandemic-addled brain and short attention span, I couldn’t put it down, even though I was continually irritated by it. So, make of that what you will!
If you don’t have any attention span for books this week, please read this hilarious story about Prancer “the demonic chihuahua.”
See full watch and read recs here.
Follow
Sandwoah is the perfect account to follow for when you have no attention span left. It’s just short, visually pleasing videos of slicing and scooping a Play-dough-like substance.
Do
There’s a bedtime stories for adults podcast on Spotify called Dreamy, in which a woman reads classic books and fairy tales in a soothing voice. I’m a bad sleeper and still managed to fell asleep during the first two episodes. I’ve also been getting back into Headspace for short meditations before bed or falling back to sleep in the middle of the night.
A quick note: I’m starting a new job next week (hooray!) and then I will be traveling for the first time in more than a year (I’m fully vaxed!), so the newsletter will take a brief hiatus for the next two weeks.
Until next time,
Rachel