Inquisitive.me

100 problems. 100 projects. 100 decisions waiting to be made.

And in the middle of it all was my brain—a little monster with 100 arms, desperately trying to sort everything out at once.

A few months ago, I was completely overwhelmed.

I had made so many decisions in such a short amount of time that I was simply sick of deciding things.

There is a term for this: decision fatigue.

And I had reached the point where I couldn’t even decide which route I wanted to run that weekend.

Usually, I don’t plan my route beforehand. I just start running and make decisions along the way:

Should I run through the forest?

Should I stay on the open roads?

Should I go around the lake?

Should I run up to the observatory?

I keep moving and figure it out as I go.

But this time, the thought of making even those tiny decisions created so much anxiety and exhaustion that I didn’t want to run at all.

Normally, when I feel overwhelmed—and at that time, I wasn’t even sure why I felt so overwhelmed (the insight came later)—reading helps. Or watching TV. Or playing video games.

But this time, nothing worked.

I still felt exhausted.

It took me a while to realize that the problem wasn’t necessarily that I needed more rest. I needed fewer decisions.

And going for one of my usual runs, making choices at every junction, would have added even more of them.

Around that time, I had a conversation with one of my colleagues. She told me that she was attending a yoga retreat where they would perform 108 sun salutations. I think the entire practice took about two hours.

I stole the idea for my run.

There was something about repeating the same sequence 108 times that sounded almost meditative. And because actual meditation wasn’t working—and even mobility training, which is usually a form of meditation for me, wasn’t helping—I thought:

Maybe this will.

I had to work that Saturday, and there is a small lake close to my workplace. One lap around it is about 600 meters.

So I took my running clothes with me and ran around that lake again.

And again.

And again.

For 14 kilometers.

That works out to roughly 23 laps, but feel free to check the maths yourself.

For almost two hours, my thoughts sounded something like this:

Okay, this is lap four.

Remember: lap four.

Finish this lap, take a sip of water, then run two more.

After that, have a gel.

Then four more laps before the next sip.

I counted laps. I counted down to water. I counted down to my gel.

That was almost all I thought about for two hours.

It was incredibly dull.

And it was exactly what my brain needed.

When I finished, I felt noticeably fresher. I was almost stunned by how much it had helped.

The run hadn’t distracted me with beautiful scenery or an exciting new route. It hadn’t given me more stimulation.

It had removed almost every decision.

There was no question about where to turn, which path to take or how far I still wanted to go. There was only one task:

Run one more lap.

Sometimes, when we feel mentally exhausted, we assume we need to stop doing things altogether. And sometimes, that is true.

But sometimes, the problem isn’t the activity itself.

It’s the number of decisions attached to it.

In those moments, the answer might not be more variety, more freedom or a better plan.

It might be doing something deliberately repetitive—and giving your brain the rare luxury of having nothing new to decide.

🧪 Let’s Experiment

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Sometimes your brain doesn’t need another break. It needs fewer choices.

The next time you feel mentally drained, don’t immediately assume that doing nothing is the answer.

🎯 Try This:

Ask yourself:

Do I need rest—or do I need fewer decisions?

Then look at the next thing you planned to do.

How many choices are attached to it?

Could you remove some of them by choosing one route, one workout, one meal or one simple routine beforehand?

🧠 Final Thought:

Sometimes rest is what you need.

And sometimes, something wonderfully boring is far more restorative like running around the same tiny lake 23 times.

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