Multitaskers Anonymous

Three words describe Martha:

Distracted.

Worried.

Upset.

Distractions.  Worries. Frustration. The air we breathe.  The ocean we swim in.

It appears that it all starts with distraction.

Wikipedia dictionary defines distraction as the divided attention of an individual or group from the chosen object of attention onto the source of distraction. Distraction is caused by: the lack of ability to pay attention; lack of interest in the object of attention; or the great intensity, novelty or attractiveness of something other than the object of attention. Distractions come from both external and internal sources.

It is implied that there is a chosen object of our attention, but something happens, either externally or internally that pulls our attention away onto something else. It’s like there is a battle, a war for our attention.

Distraction is number one cause of all accidents and kitchen fires in our household.  The day I set off the smoke alarm while making soup, it dawned on me that I might have a problem.  

 But, we can’t escape distractions. There always were, are and will be distractions. To make it even more complicated, we live in a culture that actually applauds busyness and multitasking.  And this was before texting and smart phones!

Consider this.  If ‘smart’ phone can do several things at a time, what’s the name of the phone that you can use only for talking? A ‘dumb’ phone? But it's doing exactly what it was created to do! If we admire and even envy outwardly successful people who can tackle multiple projects at a time, what are we to do with those of us who can do only one thing at a time?

Our true value, however, is not determined by the number of things we can or can not juggle at any given moment… as if life is a circus and we all are jugglers, impressing one another by the number of ceramic plates we can keep spinning… until, of course,  they start falling, as they eventually inevitably do….