It is difficult to concentrate, not because the chemicals in the brain are disproportionate in a way that speeds up brain function and causes thoughts to zigzag and bounce around instead of moving in a direct pathway towards finishing. It is difficult to concentrate because the world simply presents far too many detours which are, usually, more appealing to our childlike minds. Radio, Television, Internet and even the old fashioned book all avail themselves to us at any time of the day or night - beckoning to us - tempting us with adventure, friends, humour and above all escape. Many of these media are useful for work and communication, keeping us up to date with the latest news, catching us up with family and friends, offering information and allowing the construction of products 'easier'. All the while, they sneak into our lives and tease us with the answers to any and every question you ever wanted to ask (good on you Google), photos of animals with cute captions (thanks a bunch Haz Cheeseburger), updates complete with pictures and videos of every fleeting move or random thought our friends and family feel the need to share (fabulous job there facebook and twitter) then there are the videos of teenagers lip-syncing bad pop music (yay Youtube). Don't get me started on the ridiculous and addictive online gaming, the millions of dollars spent on ebay and other online shopping sites where spending money is so simple that it is hard to track how much you have spent. Then, someone thought it would be a great idea to make all these things available to us on a pocket size device!
Where is this rant coming from?
This weekend I had, probably for the first time in ages, reasonable and modest plans. I was going to get out of the house with the BFF, tidy up my room, do some grocery shopping and catch up on a few blog posts (maybe two or three). Nothing ambitious on that list at all. But, even my conservative list was thwarted by my laptop pre-crisis. There were viruses and weird programs playing havoc with almost every function of my computer. The BLUE SCREEN OF DEATH hadn't popped up yet, but I could see it on the horizon heading towards me with a sinister laugh every time I threw my hands up in frustration at the stupidity of my laptop... it was being rather difficult... like a naughty child. So, instead of sitting by and waiting for the sky to fall, I decided to head it off by cleaning up the drives and running some basic maintenance. Unfortunately, I am about as good at virtual cleaning as I am at actually cleaning and my virtual mop and bucket was ineffectual. Therefore a restoration to factory settings was in order and that took a good 3 or 4 hours. Bear in mind, this was additional time after I had spent at least 4 hours trying to do everything in my power to fix the problem without resorting to a compete system rebuild. I have spent a lot of time in the past 4 days running scans, reading help articles, defragmenting, updating, backing up, processing, registering, checking and restarting in an attempt to fix the problems. I am convinced that the end was, indeed, near and this was the best course of action to avoid a catastrophic failure at an eminently inconvenient time (report cards are due in little more than a week). However, the true source of the mysterious computer illness is still unknown to me... hence it's mystery I suppose.
Anyway - my point... there really is one... is this. Just when we think that we have it altogether and we are focusing in the correct direction, something comes along to drag us away. Sometimes, we are strong and the little tug does nothing to pull us off the path, we stay put. Even better, we keep travelling on the path that is heading directly towards the goal. That is when the great distractions become even greater and we do need to be literally, dragged to be pulled off the path. Unfortunately, I fear that most often it only takes something shiny to distract us. A small thing that leads us in the direction of the BLUE SCREEN OF DEATH, a tiny glimmer of something in the corner of our eye and we are suddenly merging to exit. Our path becomes foggy and unclear and the distraction is lost among the pandemonium of trinkets and tassels and even squirrels.
How are we ever to get back on track? Perhaps the best way is to close one's eyes and be sure to ignore the glitter and the glam. Let the inevitable distractions do without us for a while... they really won't mind... and remember what is really important. This is certainly easier said than done. Sometimes the distractions are necessary learning curves, experiences that must be endured so that the true path can be forged with less fuss.
This post was a long and winding road! I wonder if you managed to keep up with me. I wonder if you feel the same way. I wonder what .. what .. what that noise is? I wonder where I put that book. What groceries did I need to buy? What will I have for dinner on Tuesday? Hhhmm, is there any pizza? Oh look, frozen yogurt!
Oh, you're still here! What was I writing about?
Bye!
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