Letter 118: What 72 Hours Without Dopamine Did To My Brain

The power and importance of boredom, and of being alone with one's thoughts

Today I want to share some of the things I learned during my “dopamine fast” over the last few days. In case you missed it, I basically self diagnosed myself as a Dopamineaholic on Friday.

My brain was totally burned out. Despite not having done anything overly productive or “work-heavy” for a while, my brain was still sending me all sorts of alarm bells and warning signs that it needed a break, that it was overloaded. Overloaded on dopamine.

You see, for the last however many years, the majority of the time I have been going through life trying to fill every waking minute with some source of dopamine. I couldn’t go for a walk or drive a car without a podcast in, I couldn’t eat a meal without a TV show on, I couldn’t do anything without some secondary or even tertiary form of stimulation. Even when I was doing “good things” like rock climbing or playing golf or working out at the gym, I was never doing those things alone. I was talking with others, or I was listening to a podcast. I was never alone with my thoughts.

Something had to give, and so for the last three days I:

• Listened to zero podcasts

• Spent no time behind a computer screen

• Went for walks without my airpods

• Kept my phone on grayscale mode

• Deleted YouTube and Instagram from my phone

• Deleted the apps on my phone that let me check crypto prices

• Pulled zero gacha machines

• Opened zero new TCG packs

• Played zero video games

I’ll admit I did eat some junk food (had a few Tim Tams and two ice creams, sue me). I did watch a movie with my wife. It wasn’t a “pure” 100% true dopamine fast in the absolutely-zero-screentime and absolutely-no-dopamine-sources sense of things, but it was good enough for me.

So what did I do instead? I read a real, physical book (Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson, great book!)

I spent time with friends and family and was fully present.

I cleaned the house, caught up on chores, and got all sorts of little things in order that had been piling up.

I took my dog for more walks.

I went for drives and didn’t listen to music or a podcast.

I sat with my thoughts.

I was BORED, while not actually being bored.

That last point is the thing I want to highlight and focus on.

The importance of being bored

I didn’t quite realize how important it is to be “bored”, or rather, to spend time alone with one’s thoughts. Not only are we finding our lives jam packed with more and more content these days, we’re ALSO having less and less time to ourselves to process the content.

In ye olden days, I would be reading a book and then when I was away from the book, I would spend some amount of time thinking about the book and what I read. I did that again this weekend for the first time in god knows how long, and it made me realize how crazy it is that this part of life had all-but disappeared.

Instead of thinking about the book I was reading, or even the TV show I was watching, the video game I was playing, the whatever I was whatevering, I was immediately jumping into something new. No time to process.

It’s no wonder I can barely remember the characters from books or TV shows any more. I consume a piece of content and then immediately jump into a new piece of content, with approximately zero time to think about anything.

This constant jumping from one thing to another has left my memory in tatters and has had me questioning my sanity.

The antidote, I believe, was and is so simple: just do nothing for a while. Sit still, be idle, and be alone with your own thoughts.

Understanding addiction

This part might not apply to as many people, but it applies to me, and it will apply to some of you, and that makes me feel like it’s worth writing about.

Addicts are addicts. That might seem like an obvious statement, but it’s not always so obvious. Lots of people have “addictive personalities”, but there’s a difference between that, and being an actual addict. Being someone who is unable to prevent themself from causing themself significant harm by overdoing something.

Typical addictions are alcohol, drugs, gambling. Oftentimes an addiction can start and end with a singular vice, but oftentimes it’s not so simple. If someone is addicted to one thing, they are infinitely more susceptible to being addicted to other things.

Dopamine addiction is sort of a catch-all term for being addicted to all the types of things that provide cheap dopamine. As I mentioned in my previous post, it is particularly nefarious because there are so many things that fall into this category in today’s world, and it’s virtually impossible to completely eliminate them all from your life.

So, as addicts, we need to figure out how to navigate this brave new world, and live with a type of balance that we could never find from our other vices. I know I can never drink alcohol, because I am simply unable to do so in moderation. The “solution” is simple (not easy, but simple): never drink alcohol. It’s not so simple when it comes to dopamine, a naturally occurring chemical and one that nobody can (or should/would want to) eliminate entirely from their lives.

So I have to learn how to moderate my intake of dopamine from content, the internet, food, games, and all the other enjoyable things life has to offer.

I fear it will be a lifelong battle for me, but that’s okay. Everyone has their things they have to deal with. In the grand scheme of things, I am still extremely fortunate.

My strategy, for now, is to entirely eliminate the most dastardly sources of cheap dopamine from my life: short form video content (youtube shorts and instagram reels), as well as video games.I think that without these two categories of dopamine in my life, I will be able to manage the rest.

In an ideal world, I find a way to at least bring back video games, in moderation. They do bring me a lot of joy. We shall see though.

The other important thing for me, and I think this one applies to everyone, is to find ways to be bored again. To not fill every waking moment with external stimuli. To learn to sit with myself, to listen to my own thoughts, to appreciate silence, and to use my brain the way it’s meant to be used: to think.

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I want to end by thanking everyone who reached out after my last post. There were a bunch of public comments, and I received a whole lot of private messages too. It seems I struck a nerve, and there are a lot of people out there going through similar things. Every now and then I write a piece that resonates like that one did, and it feels good on multiple levels. It helps me feel like I’m not alone, and it feels good to know that other people feel less alone by reading my experiences.

As you can surmise from how I am writing about all of this, I am figuring things out in real time. I feel like I made some solid progress over the last few days, but I’m also coming to terms with the fact that there’s a lifetime of constant vigilance ahead for me.

If you’re struggling with anything similar, please feel free to reach out to me if you want to chat further. I think everyone could take a few small steps that will go a long way to finding some more peace and balance in life.

And it all starts with allowing yourself to be bored once in a while.

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Disclaimer: The content covered in this newsletter is not to be considered as investment advice. I’m not a financial adviser. These are only my own opinions and ideas. You should always consult with a professional/licensed financial adviser before trading or investing in any cryptocurrency related product. Some of the links shared may be referral links.