Don't Be Distrac---Ooh, Shiney!

My cat, Melvin, is distracted easily. He can be napping calmly and then a second later be bolting across the house for reasons unknown. On the flip side of that, he can be playing and chasing after something--usually whatever piece of paper fell on the floor--and then, suddenly, lose interest and walk away as if it never enticed him to begin with. If I didn't know better, I'd think this is a trait he picked up from me. Or me from him. It's hard to tell sometime.

I know, however, that personality traits don't really transfer from human to animal. All cats are easily distracted. All cats are lazy and sleep all day. All cats punish their owner's absence with a face full of fur and a few claws in the shoulder....Or maybe that's just my cat.

Anyway. My point--distraction. It's so easy to fall prey to distractions, isn't it? I mean, I've already been distracted from my point a few times in writing this so far, and I'm only on the third paragraph. How much worse is it in a day? "Hello, How can I --Oh my gosh, did you see how fat that squirrel is? How are you today? Oh, really? Because my mom's sister's husband's brother's cousin's best friend works for Chuck Norris." See? Easy.

Sometimes distraction is a good thing. Distractions are good for getting one's mind off of a currently difficult situation. Just been dumped? Distraction. Wanting to raid the fridge? Distraction. Getting a shot? Distraction. Worried about the monster in your closet? Distraction.

Okay, so the last one really doesn't apply. But you get the idea. They CAN be good things. But on the other hand, they can be just as bad as they are good, if not even worse. It is this particular side of distraction that I am struggling with hard-core lately.

Even as I write this, I struggle with what words to write. I started out wanting to talk about distraction, and what I plan to do about it. But my mind is getting distracted by other problems. Why not talk about eating healthy? Or my weight loss struggles. Or my budgeting issues. Or... Or....a million other things I could talk about instead of addressing the problem at hand. Distractions. 

It is so easy to get disctracted these days. There are so many ways our attention can be pulled that it sometimes makes it difficult to focus in on the things that really matter--the things we should really be spending our time on instead of sitting on the sofa binge-watching nineties television. Yeah, that happens more often than it should.

I'm going to be real honest here for a second. I recently had a basically-four-day weekend. I had Friday, most of Saturday, Sunday, and all day Monday to get stuff done. Did I do any of it? Nope. My dishes are still sitting in a pile on the counter. My laundry is still in a heap in my closet. My paint stuff is scattered across my coffee table and my sewing project is strewn on my bedroom chair and the floor around it. I have a pile of jewelry on my dresser that needs to be hung up and organized and not to mention the floors that need swept and vaccuumed, or the bed that isn't made, or the litter box that needs cleaned out. Oh, and the trash taken out.

I had all weekend to do these things. Honestly, it probably wouldn't have taken very long if I had just gotten up and done them. Maybe Friday I do the dishes, and Sunday do laundry, etc. Really, how bad would it have been? But no. I got distracted. And not good distracted, either. Bad distracted. Bad lazy on-the-couch-all-day sleep-in and avoid my to-do list distracted. You want to know what I did instead? I watched Netflix. I messed around with some painting. I cooked, making more dishes I didn't do. I lounged in my pajamas for most of the day. And, oh yeah, watched more Netflix.

It was bad. It was also when I realized that I am now gaining weight again instead of losing it--and not for the good reasons, like gaining muscle. Nope. Just good old fashioned gaining weight. My clothes are just a tad too tight again. My face and chest are breaking out in acne--Ach! My motivation to do anything is gone, and because I am doing nothing, I feel gross and guilty and awful so I turn to my old favorites to make me feel better--food and shopping. Which isn't good for the numbers on the scale or in my checkbook.

So. That brings me to the next part of this: What am I going to do about it? Well, I thought about it long and hard...Okay, I thought about it for like ten minutes while I wrote in my journal complaining. Still. I thought about it.

This week, I want to get rid of some of my big distractions. Namely TV, Facebook, and electronic games. I can spend hours wasting time with the above three things. Big Fat Distractors. So I'm taking a week off from them. Starting today, Tuesday, through Saturday, I am not going to watch TV, get on Facebook, or play games on my phone. For one week. Well, most of a week.

I intend to use the time similarly to the time spent during my 101 day challenge of no TV. Use the time gained without those Big Fat Distractors for being A) Productive and B) Contemplative.

Okay, so it basically boils down to is this:

What do I want this next year to look like for me and how do I intend to make that happen?

 I realize this is a few weeks late of the new year, but its better late than never, right?

You'd have thought I would've figured all this out during the whole 101 Days challenge thing, right? Yeah, well, like I said, I tend to get distracted and procrastinate on things.

So, I'm doing it again, a mini-version this time. For now, I'm starting with a week. Maybe next week I will decide to extend it, or adjust the parameters. Either way, something needs to change. I need to regroup, refocus, and renew. I sound a little like a cross between a yoga commerical and a recycling campaign, but hey, it works for now.

Details to come. Maybe. If I remember. Or don't put it off. Or get distracted...

Wait, what was I saying?