Distracted or Unfocused?

About 20 minutes ago I remembered I had to set up a car maintenance appointment. I grabbed my phone. Somehow I forgot the reason my phone was in my hand and I decided to play a game, then I decided to check Facebook, once I got tired of Facebook I decided to check the news, it wasn’t until I saw an advertisement for a car that I remembered the reason I had grabbed my phone.

That was 20 minutes of unproductive time. I remember there was a period in my life when I didn’t have time for distractions; I was either too busy or too focused. But what about now? Am I not busy enough? Maybe not focused enough? Or maybe a dog chasing a squirrel is less distracted than me?

It’s like the chicken or the egg question…which came first: distractions or lack of focus? As the nerd that I am I decided to do some thorough research, courtesy of Google, because in Google we trust! And I found that enough people have already written about this issue, but that none of them could tell me which came first.

The peaceful dumpling website mentioned that distractions can happen if I don’t drink enough water or even have magnesium or omega-3 deficiency. But I can assure you that’s not my problem! I drink enough water to have to run to the bathroom every hour, I eat enough nuts to not have a magnesium deficiency, and if I keep eating sushi the way I eat sushi, I could be blamed for the wild salmon going on the endangered species list. NOOOOOO, I must cut back on wild salmon.

While in college a doctor once offered to refer me to ADHD meds, but I refused because caffeine is my drug of choice. I eventually decided to talk to my mother about potentially exhibiting ADHD symptoms as a child and she disagreed with ADHD. She said I was a gifted child (so cute, what parent doesn’t think that their child is gifted?!) but she did mention that I was always trying to do something new and different all the time because I was easily bored. Seems like I haven’t learned to manage that…

Without exceitement I feel dead inside. I truly live for the next exciting experience. If it snowed on the mountain I must drive up there and attempt to "snowboard." Oh, now it’s hot at the beach, I must figure out how to appropriately learn a water sport…scuba diving sounds amazing, and so does surfing, and maybe I should try to sail again…hmmm, it’s not that bad to be a beach bum once in a while because I don’t want to burn out ever. I went to New Zealand at the beginning of this year…maybe toward the end I should go to Chile, or Thailand...why not Nepal? Should I try to learn another language? Nah, maybe I should focus on practicing the ones I already know… I just need to slow down and be present! Aaargh!

So my addiction to excitement and my natural tendency to avoid boredom has led me to seek distractions. I want to be distracted because I cannot focus on just doing one activity. In my case lack of focus came before the distraction.

The truth is distractions are my way of coping with either the unrealistic goals I’ve set up for my personal satisfaction (in my fairy tale imagination), or the goals I don't feel excited for, because after achieving the first “easy” goals of my life – like graduating, getting a job, getting promoted – I don’t feel I want a conventional life and I haven’t spent the time in creating a vision for what I want. Conventional goals like waiting for my next promotion are not enough to keep me focused, so I numb away my thoughts with distractions.

Now…how are you dealing with focus and distractions? In your case did the distraction come before the lack of focus? Did we just solve the chicken or the egg problem? All I know is that I need to go and set up my car maintenance appointment.

Oooh, and in response to the peaceful dumpling…I think lack of sleep, lack of exercise/sex, hunger, and sadness (as well as extreme excitement) can also lead to being distracted.

Don't we all make jokes to distract ourselves?