What’s up everyone? For all of you that are new to purposeFULL, welcome. To the ones who have been following, thanks for reading again. I wanted to talk about something that encompasses every area of our life. Distractions. They are everywhere. The question is – can we identify them? What are the distractions that drain us? Which ones zap our energy, perhaps in ways we don’t even realize? As the great Billy Chapel says before he throws a pitch for the Detroit Tigers, sometimes we just need to “Clear the Mechanism” (For the Love of the Game, 1999). This was his way of shutting his brain off from all the distractions … disgruntled fans, noises, pressure to win, etc. Instead of allowing himself to focus on those things, he zeroed in on one thing – the pitch.
Recently, life’s distractions have become really evident to me. And once I took the time to actually approach them, I noticed that they were not only distracting, but they were consuming my time (in a negative way). They were deterring me from spending my time on the things that truly matter to me. At the risk of going down into a philosophical spiral, I’ll leave that thought as it is. Below, I list two areas that I felt like I needed to address to “clear the mechanism” in my own life.
Social media
We live in a fast-paced world with knowledge, conversations, news, and story lines at our finger tips. We can find any piece of information to our liking in seconds, with just a couple of clicks. Personally, I have had social media for a long time, since the day that Facebook came into existence. Then there was Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, and the list goes on. You sign up and feel connected. And then, all of the sudden, you’re habitually checking your “likes” and “followers.” Or you’re mindlessly scrolling. But what are you missing? As a disclaimer: I would never imply that people shouldn’t use social media. I’m simply stating that if you’re not careful, this can quickly overwhelm. For me, I am surprised that I had room to breathe in trying to keep up with it all. What made me recognize this? A simple software update on my iPhone. Yep. A few months ago, the notifications on my phone began to tell me exactly how much screen time I was spending looking at particular apps. One day, my phone politely notified me that I had spent 6 hours on my phone. IN ONE DAY – wow. The sad part is, I didn’t even realize it. Let’s put this into perspective. 6 hours a day x 7 days in a week = 42 hours a week. And taking it one step further – 42 hours a week x 52 weeks a year, equals? An astonishing 91 days, or exactly a quarter of my year spent just looking at my phone screen. Please, seriously stop and think about that. What could I do with 91 extra days a year? I could think of a whole lot that is more productive, believe me. Can you all relate? I challenge you (if you can) to look at your phone and see your daily screen time percentages. For everyone out there, I hope your usage is far less than mine! For me – recognition is at least a start, right?
Relationships
Obviously social media is a huge part of daily living these days. But, so are our relationships. I bet you are wondering how relationships can be a distraction. Well, I have relationships that I thoroughly enjoy and others that, frankly, I don’t. My reasons for listing relationships as distractions is to point out the energy and emotion that it takes to maintain them. This is true even for the good ones! Relationships, at least for me, have always required me to absorb or emit energy. Sometimes, that “give-and-take” gets out of balance. I am more aware now – in part thanks to my mom, who has always used the analogy of the “emotion jar.” It’s a brilliant, simple concept. If there was a jar in the middle of your room, how full would it be? Would you find yourself the only one putting in all the energy, time, effort, and emotions into the jar (or all of your relationships)? Who are the ones in your life that are contributing – sharing in the giving? Next, and this is hard to identify, ask yourself who IS NOT reciprocating (filling the jar themselves). Sometimes people take what you give without listening, helping, or understanding your emotion, or appreciating your energy. And it’s easy to be blind to this, since they can be stealthy little leeches. OK, I’ll back off of that one a bit. But my point is this: relationships need to be give-and-take. If it feels like someone is only taking, it’s probably not healthy for you. And it will become – you guessed it – a distraction. Once you have that eureka moment (cue light bulb), you might recognize why you find yourself so mentally (sometimes physically) exhausted.
We all have our own set of distractions. Perhaps yours is from over-working, worrying about your kids, reaching fitness goals, having a social life, dealing with family drama, etc. Even your “daily routine” can cause you to focus on the wrong things. Here’s the kicker: distractions feed distractions. Meaning you become numb to it all, and before you know it you’re spending hours in an “alternate universe.” I am not saying don’t work on your relationships, forget calling your mom and dad, or that you have to delete all of your social media – even though I deleted most of mine. But check yourself. Your self-care is crucial. It is the driver and the main mechanism to your life, and you need to fuel it with positivity. If it’s not balanced, the negative distractions will become apparent in your words, emotions, and priorities. You may find yourself frustrated, irritable, and exhausted, to some capacity. I admit that I am guilty of this and I needed a change. My heart wasn’t in the right place with my social media use, and the distractions were becoming overwhelming. So I channeled my inner Billy Chapel (of course, I’ll throw strikes), and I cleared my own mechanism. Here’s to new priorities and positive self-care! (Also, it only took me three weeks to reference baseball. “HELLO, MIKE!”)
“You can always find a distraction if you’re looking for one.”
~Tom Kite
A purposeFULL thought:
Where is your heart today? Is it distracted? Is your mind spinning? Is your emotion jar balanced? What good might come into your life if you put the phone (or other distraction) aside for a few minutes? Maybe you’ll enjoy a few more quality minutes with family, read a favorite book, or block out a long day by turning the radio OFF and enjoying your ride home in silence.
purposeFULL 