# Chapter 332

So difficult switching your brain from one context to another. I left one world in Georgia with my dad and arrived at a completely different world in Pennsylvania with my wife, kids and grandkids. But noise is noise, and when that is inside your head it doesn’t matter where you are at in the world. Yet when the noise is in the room you are trying to function in, then the noise is especially frustrating. Brain switching leaves you discombobulated and feeling confused and out of sorts. Like you don’t belong anywhere, rather than everywhere.

People have to do this all the time. I call it brain switching and they call it code switching, but it is the same thing. And my black friends say that it is exhausting and I would agree. Even though I am their equal in being a professional code-switcher I admit that they are correct in how exhausting it is. However I will say that if you aren’t doing great self-care and if you are already tired and lagging, then this code-switching weight feels unbearable, and that is what I hear myself and my friends saying here.

So whether you are code switching or brain switching if you are taking care of yourself then you will find this unfortunate fact of our lives more manageable. If you are not doing great self-care, then you will find this a crushing moment/event to navigate. Decide which pain you want, decide which path will bring you more of what you want.