Question: how to transition brain from fantasy to reality

So uh. I sometimes do a thing where I start getting rly into something fictional and I can't stop consuming fiction and get back to reality. It feels sorta like a brainfog but more. pleasant? Where basically I find it hard to switch my thoughts and focus back to irl things that need focus.
the current situation I'm in is basically i need to start working on an animation due tomorrow but I just read like three fanfics and I'm stuck thinking about them, and mentally continuing the stories and ideas in my head. And also want to go find more fanfic in the same category.

So I was just wondering since I imagine some if not most people on this forum do a similar thing, does anyone have methods of what they do when their brain is stuck in fantasyland and they need to bring it back down?

 

Definitely same hat.

I am not the best to dispense advice on how to deal with it, since I usually just go for indulging it until it's time to sleep, and that's not really... helpful. (I don't have any work that comes home with me, at least, but... yeah. Not a suggestion to follow, merely an observation of my habits.)

The best way for me to break it is generally to leave. Like, usually that's the kind of thing I do, binge/submerge myself in fandom, when I'm really entrenched in my bedroom with the door shut and headphones in, yeah? So It helps if I completely break the environment, even if it's just to go circle the house outside once. Walk to the mailbox even if I have that excuse, because we have the same carpet and walls in the whole house so even leaving the room isn't that different (and my brain still has some background awareness that another room is still part of the same internal house, eh).

If going for a quick walk does not appeal, it is also a good time to take care of unrelated chore or errand. If you are me your initial gut response is "but I need to stay at my computer and work on assignment BLAH!" yes but are you working on that anyway while binge reading fic? You are not! A good time to vacuum yes (or clean the toilet, the windows, the dishes, whatever). Because what's important is forcing you brain to do something very other than what it has been doing, for me, and yank it out of the... stagnation is not word I want but is word I have. Then come back and work on assignment blah.

And if none of this is helpful at least you have a witnessed.

 

Quick walk is actually a good idea!! I do tend to be able to pull myself together a lot better if I spend some time outside in nature, but I keep like.. feeling like if i'm going to go for a walk i should Go For A Walk and like, actually exercise. I should probably cut that brainfeel out and just go on really short walks around the dorms

doing dishes is also a good idea partially because god do i avoid it lol

 

I relate to this really hard. I agree with the leaving the environment thing. Another thing that helps me is to have a loose routine, so I know the transition is coming, which helps me with not getting Stuck In Task about reading - that kind of happened organically for me, because my dog has to be fed and walked at about the same time every day, and my boyfriend comes home on a set schedule so I like to transition out of fiction world to spend time with him. So now I can look at the clock and be like 'okay reality time happens in thirty minutes' which helps me gradually disengage and not get too invested.