What is a clutter box?

If you want to see a happy camper allow me time to let my mind wander. Well, actually my mind doesn’t just wander, sometimes it runs away completely without a moment’s notice. (The picture shows you what the inside of my mind looks like.)

More specifically I go into my clutter box, a special space in my mind. It’s like a  messy garage. The type of garage where the whole family dumps their old stuff and then promptly forgets about it. Well, my clutter box is a bit like that – there are all kinds of useless things in there. Sometimes I go in there with the intention of cleaning the place up a bit. But then I find things that I forgot I had and I start playing with them. That is when I get distracted and zone out.

The crap I keep in there

I love my clutter box. Sometimes I find old post or story ideas that have been long forgotten.  Other times I think about weird and/or stupid stuff. I may be thinking of something awkward that happened to me fifteen years ago, what I should have said in that argument that took place a month ago, whether dogs can have autism, or if deaf people know that farts make a sound. Sometimes I revisit old conversations, TV shows, news articles, comedy shows, or something weird my dad said.  If I’m feeling particularly disciplined, I’ll go through my katas in my head. If I’m very lucky I’ll get an idea for a blog post.

Don’t ask me what I’m thinking

My clutter box is also the reason why I hate it when people ask me what I’m thinking. When I have a far-off look on my face, I can guarantee you I’m not thinking of anything academic or dignified.

Ed Byrne is an Irish comedian, and in the video below he talks about how a woman should not ask a man what he is thinking, because it may be something silly:

(You only need to start watching from 6:26, but the whole thing is good.)

I relate to this video on so many levels. Don’t ask me what I’m thinking because exactly like in the video, at that moment I’m thinking, ‘They’re asking me what I’m thinking – I have to think of something to say!’ I once thought for a whole day about how parents know if their babies need glasses – that’s way longer than that question should have bothered me.

Constant free entertainment

What’s nice about my clutter box is that I never get bored. Whenever I have to wait around for something, I happily zone out to la-la-clutter-box land. The downside, of course, is that I often zone out when I’m meant to pay attention. For instance, the other night in karate class I zoned out thinking about this blog post – ironically, I zoned out thinking about what I’m going to write about me zoning out.

My clutter box blessing/curse probably has something to do with me being an introvert, or a creative type (well, a wannabe one). Whichever it is, if I’m blankly staring into the abyss, just leave me alone for a while, I’m defragging my brain while in my clutter box and I’m perfectly happy and lost in there.

Also, next time you ask someone what they’re thinking, just know that you are about to hear a lie.

Meh.

Michelle

P.S. If you’d like to contact me, feel free to comment below, send an email to thatmichelleperson@gmail.com, or follow me on Twitter @M_ClutterBox.