Image adapted from Flickr via the CC license.
“Focus,” I tell Colum. I am forever begging him to focus on what he’s doing, stop getting distracted and stay organized.
Holy cow, am I ever a hypocrite.
My life has been like the Russian nesting dolls of distraction for the past several weeks. I’ve lost focus on every level. Big picture, long-term career and life goals? They’ve become shattered into a dozen sparkly shards, each beckoning me in different directions. The same goes for the mid-range goals I thought I had so clearly laid out for myself. And so on, as you peel back the layers and I find myself sitting down to write a blog post, but unable to remember what it was I so urgently wanted to say.
So I check Facebook and Twitter, reply to a few emails, pour another coffee, start unloading the dishwasher, mindlessly eat a few crackers and then return to my computer. The effect of all these stratospheres of distraction has me reeling. The house alone, my god. Toys, games, books and assorted craft supplies litter every surface. Yes, the floor is a surface. I just can’t keep up with the trail of destruction left by my kids — not when I can whip out my phone to quickly research every passing thought and then fall down another rabbit hole of notifications and messages until I look up 15 minutes later and walk out of the room, leaving the dishes undone once again.