Giftedness or In Which My thoughts Drive Me Nuts

I recently took up knitting.  A friend was amazed at how quickly I picked it up.  She was also wondering why I do it all the time.  I do it while I'm teaching my children.  I take it anywhere I will have to stand in line.  I mostly use it at Taekwondo, during the boys' classes.  Yes, I talk to other parents, but I have to keep my hands busy.

My response to her was, "I find that if I keep my hands busy, it slows my mind down."

She just looked at me.

My brain is like a giant orchestra that mostly plays in harmony.  But, when it is warming up and tuning, look out.  That is neither pretty, nor restful.  Instead, it is like nails on a chalkboard, vomiting, microphone feedback, and babies crying, all echoing around in my head.

Sometimes, my brain just needs to rest.  Enter knitting, sewing, tapping, jiggling, dancing, kicking, or anything else that enables my brain to feed off some of the extra energy it harbors into a harmless conduit, allowing me to concentrate more fully.  My oldest son listens to his iPod if he is having trouble focusing.  (He once told me he was having trouble concentrating because of the window in the room he was in.  I asked if he was looking out of it.  He responded, "No, I'm looking into it.  It's the window to my imagination."  Sorry, son, it's kind of hard to get away from that one!)  Dominic sings.  He sings all the time.  He has finally managed to stop singing during Taekwondo, but it was touch and go for a while.  Xavier hyper focuses.  The house could burn down around the kid when he's focused on something.  When he's done, he bounces off the walls - literally.

Every gifted person needs an out from their brain.  We all need the ability to shut it down periodically.  This post talks more about it.  It is a wonderful post that actually says something, rather than rambling aimlessly about.  Sadly, it does not mention any new ideas for me.  So, I'll just keep dancing on chairs at Taekwondo tournaments to get adrenaline out.  Hopefully, I won't break anything.