Inspirational thoughts and random writings from the alumni and friends of Quad-Cities Christian Writers Conference.

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Focusing in an ADHD World:

By Shelly Akins

There’s a half-finished puzzle on my dining room table. Some of my Christmas decorations are still up on the high shelf. I’ve got a first draft of a novel in the drawer waiting for revisions. I’ve got countless sewing and craft projects in various states of completion stuffed in totes and boxes.

I used to pride myself on being the jack-of-all-trades, master-of-none. But now, I just find it frustrating. I look at all those unfinished things as minor failures. I jump from one thing to the next to the next just because it’s new and shiny. Then I get bored and move on without finishing it and seeing it through to the end.

I told my husband the other day that I felt like the Little Dutch Boy with all my fingers stuck in the holes in the dam. The problem is, I’m running out of fingers. There’s always one more thing, one more demand on my time, one more five minute thing that someone needs me to do.

Enough.

I’ve spent the last year of my life doing some soul searching and figuring out what it is I want to do and be. I’ve lost focus and drive. I’ve lost my purpose and goals. I’ve quit too many things. What really makes me happy? I didn’t have an answer for that question. I still don’t. But I know that too many projects stresses me out. I don’t have time to really concentrate on the things that make me happy. Heck, I don’t even have time to do the laundry.

So I’m focusing, narrowing my lens to a few things. This means making some sacrifices: I’m dropping out of the cast of a play, I’m cutting back on my writing obligations, I’m not taking as many sub jobs. But it also means looking at the important things: walking my son to and from school, quilting on Tuesdays, going to lunch with friends, focusing on my consulting business. These are things that make me happy. The other stuff (as much as I love those things) are just getting in the way.

What makes you happy? What distractions are getting in your way? How can you move those things out of the way and continue on your journey toward happiness?

1 comment:

  1. Definitey hear you and feel your pain. I can have four or five things going at once, juggling well, cranking out answers and being witty...until hubby comes in and asks...say it with me...where is (such and such). He could have just thrown a bomb.

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