One reason my brain gets so mushy

There are a lot of things about being a mom that I find difficult, and even more things that I find rewarding. But one of the most frustrating aspects is how it has severely depleted my brain capacity. I find it very challenging to just think in a straight line... to finish a thought before another one interrupts it, twists it in a knot and throws it away.

Part of the reason for this, I think, is that we moms have a lot to manage. There are a lot of situations that need our attention, people who need us to hear their joys, complaints and stories, and entropy that needs to be fought.

But on top of all that, we have to answer so many questions in a day! I started thinking about this recently -- how I am called to provide answers over and over and over -- and decided I would actually count how many questions I answer in a day.

So, over a 2-day period, I did just that -- counted how many question marks were thrown my way. I did NOT count all of the rhetorical questions, demands, repeated questions, or crying squawks from the baby -- only real, actual questions. I also did NOT count all of the questions coming from people outside this family -- so nothing I got asked on the phone or through email. Just real, live, in-house questions.

And the average, for ONE DAY, was approximately 216.

In the span of the 13 hours that I and my children are awake, I get asked about 216 questions. That means, that in a week's time, I must answer someone over 1400 times. And in a year, that's... wait, let me switch over to Excel... 73,000 questions. And, starting next year when Miles may begin adding to the conversation, that number may actually go UP! This, I must say, is daunting for a brain-depleted, decision-making-challenged person such as me.

The questions in this period of analysis ranged from the mundane ("Do you want my pickle?") to the trivial-pursuit type ("Who is the mayor of Lake Park?") to the more complicated ("If we have a President, why do we need a Mayor?")... But all of them required an answer.

I did notice some patterns... here is my estimation of how the questions broke out:

And here are how my answers sorted out:

This analysis has served a couple of purposes for me.

1.) It let me use Excel and charts... something my depleted brain gets starved for sometimes.

2.) It helped me to conclude why it is that I feel like such a dingbat much of the time: When a person has to say "I don't know" over 100 times a day, it becomes a self-fulfilling cycle! I know less and less and less...

I would have some other, stellar conclusions I'm sure... if someone wasn't asking me something right now...