When Your Brain Feels Like a Bad Group Project Partner
Photo courtesy of cottonbro studio
“My brain and I, we are not friends. We are classmates, doing a group assignment called life, and it’s not going great.”
— Fredrik Backman
A bestselling author said that. In front of a live audience. Who laughed, of course, because it's funny. But also because it's true.
Many of us know the feeling: your brain is brilliant and infuriating, full of ideas and doubts, dreams and distractions. Some days, it’s like trying to complete a project with a partner who shows up late, changes the topic halfway through, and wants snacks instead of solutions.
This is especially true for creatives—for people who live inside their minds more than most. That inner world can be rich and imaginative, but also chaotic and self-critical. One moment you’re brimming with purpose, the next you’re googling “quiet jobs in the forest where no one will ask me to self-promote.”
So what do we do when our inner world feels like a battlefield?
We stop trying to win.
We start trying to listen.
We learn to work with our brain, rather than against it. Not by silencing it, but by tuning in more gently. Not by forcing focus, but by creating enough space that clarity can find us.
Backman’s words resonated with me because they’re raw and real. He’s not saying he figured it out. He’s saying he’s showing up anyway. That’s the real work. That’s what creativity often is—a strange collaboration between your best self and your worst habits, showing up to the same desk.
If your brain is messy right now—if it’s tired, tangled, twitchy—you are not broken. You may just need a different rhythm. A pause. A coach. A nap. A little less pressure and a little more compassion.
You’re not doing the group project of life wrong. You might just need new tools for collaboration.
And if it helps, I’ll say it clearly: You’re not alone. You’re not failing. And you are absolutely still allowed to create beautiful things, even if your brain is full of noise.
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