No Time and Too Many Distractions
I recently took a vacation to San Antonio. Despite living in Texas for over four years now, I had never been. So we made the three-and-a-half-hour drive north for our first vacation since a cruise in 2022, which is best not mentioned. During our stay, I had a great time. After a tense first night, which is typical for me, we got into a rhythm, and I allowed myself to relax and enjoy the trip. We visited the Alamo (yay propaganda!), toured the Riverwalk, went to caverns, and drove to Austin to tour Austin City Limits. It was a great time, and I felt rested, rejuvenated, and ready to return to the real world and get back to work. That is, until I did.
Right off the bat, I returned to work, and all hell broke loose. A tropical storm formed in the lower Gulf, threatening us with flooding rains. Clients had emergencies that popped up at just the right time to ruin my plans for the week. I fell back into my routines, but in a moment of self-reflection, I took a step back and said, “This really sucks.”
I’ve believed that the Pandemic and subsequent lockdown changed us. None of us had ever lived through anything like that before. Coming out of the Pandemic, our instinct was to do what we had to do to survive. That mentality had been beaten into us day after day. To make matters worse, my wife and I had moved across the country to a vastly different place before the lockdown. So we had no reference of what everyday life was like here when we were forced into lockdown. Since then, we’ve bought a house and started trying to acclimate, but I still don’t think we’re back to where we were before. That’s what trauma does. It breaks you down and erases the routines that were there before.
Over the past year, I’ve felt like I was slowly thawing out after a long winter. I’ve slowly involved myself in the local community and built friendships, but it hasn’t been easy, which brings me back to my routine. The vacation made me feel good, allowing me to relax in ways I haven’t in a long time. Because of that, jumping back into my regular routine was extremely jarring.
I’ve never said being a self-published author was easy. In fact, it’s actually several jobs. Add to that the fact that I run my own business, and you get a mountain of work. There is rarely enough time for me to get all of my responsibilities done. And when all that work mounts up, the thing that gets neglected is my relaxation time. If I don’t rest, I don’t perform at a high level, which leads to more work getting done. You get the picture. It’s a never-ending cycle.
The second problem is what I call a deluge of distractions. I know you feel me on this one. How much better could anything be if I could focus on only that one thing at a time? It seems not a day goes by without some sort of emergency that eats up my time and attention. When that doesn’t happen, there is still an endless stream of spam emails, text messages, and calls. It’s enough to make someone want to unplug and go off-grid.
However, as a big proponent of the “if you aren’t happy, do something about it” philosophy, I intend to do just that. But what does that look like? Truthfully, I’m not sure. But I think it starts with setting boundaries, both in work and life. Being more rigid and protective of my time is the first step; after all, it’s my most important resource.
After that, I’ll need to find a way to eliminate all the distractions. That’s the challenging part. How do you remove distractions in a world designed to distract and entice? I know a few small steps I can make, but I think I’ll save that for its own post. It’ll be hard, but it’s a battle worth having because big projects require a lot of concentration, and you can’t concentrate when you’re being pulled in a million directions simultaneously. So, stay tuned. I’m sure I’ll update you in the near future on how my efforts go.
– Ryan
