how to un-rot your brain

and stop spiraling from overconsumption

Author

Bella Rose Mortel
September 03, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 4 minutes

Your brain deserves better

If you subscribe to this newsletter you probably want to get more brilliant, hilarious, and sexy than you already are.

And let me tell you that is no small feat!

So as we’re leveling up during the great lock in of 2025…it’s time to implement yet another Hot Girl Habit!

But first, a story:

About a month ago, I had the absolute worst realization

To put it plainly, I felt like I was getting dumber (not good. very bad. alarming!!🚨🚨🚨🚨)

And even in last week’s newsletter, I was like, “Let’s unrot our brains and learn new things.”

So let’s talk about why I needed that in the first place.

If you’re anything like me, you spend a lot of time on social media and you’re scrolling literally first thing in the morning, which:

  • fills your brain with other people’s thoughts the moment you open your eyes

  • drains creativity

  • overstimulates you

  • is a waste of time and energy

You’re also probably using AI more and more. I remember when everyone started using it, I was super resistant because I didn’t want to become too reliant on it.

But I fear there was a period of time where I was using my girl ChatGPT for the simplest thing, and I had to check myself, like:

“Be serious can you not write these literal 2 sentences on your own??? 😭”

Something needed to change!!

me before I gave myself screen time limits

Things we can all live by to get smarter:

At work:

  • Make before you manage / Create before you consume: Did not coin these terms, but this basically means we gotta write something, post something, or finish a creative task before doing any admin type task that morning.
     

  • Do NOT start the day with scrolling social or emails: You will feel more scattered, less creative, and low-key defeated by 10am. Trust.

In life:

  • Do something to practice articulating your thoughts & sharing perspective: I restarted this newsletter to work on this and get in the habit of creating consistently.

    There was also a TikTok trend going around earlier this year where people are speaking about something with no filler words for 60 seconds. Okkkkk brain workout 💅
     

  • Follow your curiosity: Find new things you’re actually interested in and learn about them because you want to. Right now I’m deep in my brain science / mind / psychology era.

Hot people are smart people. When was the last time you learned something new??

UNROT YOUR BRAIN

Spent last weekend in Boston and walked through the Museum of Fine Arts on a rainy afternoon (such a vibe, I know)!

One of the exhibits was Van Gogh: The Roulin Family Portraits, all about this tender, very wholesome period where Van Gogh painted portraits of the Roulin family (close friends of his)

Cool thing I learned: He actually gave the portraits to the Roulins as a form of payment. A thank you for their friendship and for letting him paint them, mostly just so he could practice.

Imagine being gifted a Van Gogh from the man himself !! If only they knew what they were worth back then lol

Probs made a great living room masterpiece!!

Van Gogh’s homie Joseph Roulin

GEN Z VOCAB BABY

brain rot: the supposed deterioration of a person’s mental or intellectual state, especially viewed as the result of overconsumption of material ( particularly online content) considered to be trivial or unchallenging

This isn’t a new word, but one I felt was fitting for today’s edition. We should all know it anyway, considering it was Oxford’s 2024 Word of the Year.

Bye bye brain rot!

See you next week!!

Xoxo,

Bella Rose