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| Aww, Jamaica, the perfect distraction to help get away from life's problems, but they always come back. (Photo by P. Lynne Designs copyright 2018) |
That dirty little word is called Distractions. I capitalized the “D” in distractions to bring emphasis to that “it is what it is”, a quote that my “sister”, Judith always say.
Let me put it another way, we will have distractions in life and there is no way to get rid of them. It is how a person handles the distraction that determines if you are going to have a good day or a really crappy day. Let me give few scenarios:
1) The night before your big Spring Cleanup, you plan on tackling 4 closets (Master Bed, child 1 and 2, and linen), and fully clean the Master bath. You lay out your supplies and put them in a place where you can get to them, but your toddler cannot (Child 2, Child 1 is in Kindergarten). You go to bed. In the middle of the night, child 1 gets sick and throws up. You get the child cleaned up and go back to bed. The school has a “please do not send child to school when sick” policy. What do you do with your cleaning plans?
2) You are tired of your website looking the way it does. You have not done anything to it in months. You set in your calendar that on May 10, 2018, is the day you are going to clean up your website for the last time. You are going to dedicate the entire day to it. The day comes, and you get a bunch of phone calls, mostly from telemarketers. One of those calls is from a friend of yours who is upset and has called for comfort. What do you do?
3) There is a death in the family while you are on vacation to Disney. You planned this for months. Your children could not wait. What do you do when the family calls on you to be at grandma’s side when Grandpa dies suddenly?
I will get back to them in a moment. I want to say something about the word and concept of “planning”. I have said it in a previous blog, which I no longer have. If you believe in God (and I hope you do), the word, “Planning” is sort of an inside joke that God has on His children, for “you do not know the plans I have for you” …. Jeremiah 29:11. God has never said that you cannot plan, just be prepared for when they change, good or bad. This is where “distractions” and “planning run side by side. Back to the scenarios ….
1) Plan for an alternate Spring cleaning day. So, your Kindergartener is sick, and you cannot send her to school. This is when you make an appointment to the doctor, make sure that the toddler cannot get it, catch up on shots and other healthy things. Come back home and make it a fun day of it (did anyone say, “Chilling my PJ’s” day). Rent a couple of movies and have healthy junk food for dinner. Trust me, your closets and Master bath will not go on a strike that day.
2) Your friendship is more important than your website. Again, set aside that task and go to that friend. Maybe she received that news that she did not want to hear. Even still, you cannot ignore problems like this because it may also be a cry for help.
3) No one knows how long grandpa has been sick. He may have been declining for months. It also depends on if you have just arrived Disney or have been there for a few days. Maybe you can cut the vacation short. Disney is good at adjusting your vacation. Go to the front desk and explain your situation. Not only that, call grandma, see how she is feeling. She may not want you to come home, but to enjoy your vacation as your grandfather would have you to do. Even when others, well-meaning others, might count on you and call you selfish when you want to stay on your vacation, there is nothing you can do about the situation. It is bad timing. Decide what is best for your situation. Some families are not even that close to each other.
So, my little distraction is that I have either a cold, influenza “B” strain, which can act like a cold, mix in with my allergies. Oh, how fun, is it? I have been sick since Wednesday. The week before, my father was in the hospital, so I had to stay with my mom. I am behind in making notebooks, cards, invitation samples, blog posts, and editing and posting videos. Am I upset? Of course, I am. But wait, there is more….
When is a Distraction a Good Distraction
Distraction is another word for, “interruptions”. When that voice inside your head tells you to go a different direction. When you have unexpected delays at the airport. When a buddy calls you to do something other what you are used to doing? Better listen. Consider this….
I was looking up “near misses 911”, and a report from CNN, dated September 5, 2011, of people who would have died during these events, and here are a few …
1) A woman, who was an executive with Morgan Stanley was called by a friend to have a cigarette with him. She was in her office 10 minutes before the planes hit. As she was riding down in the elevator, she felt a jolt but thought that the elevator was acting funny again, so she ignored it. The woman, whose first name was Geer, went outside and froze like everyone when she saw the plane hit the side of South Tower. If she had decided to stay in place, in her office, she would have been killed. The fireball went straight through her office.
2) An artist, who backed out of a California Trip that would have put him on Flight 93. His uncle invited him to Yosemite National Park, but he told his uncle that he had work obligations. His uncle never made it to the park. He died with the rest of the passengers and crew.
3) A commuter was running 5 minutes late for work, only to find his office engulfed in flames in one of the towers.
4) A flight attendant accidentally put in two codes that she did not want as her work schedule that September. She tried to change it, but the system froze on her. When she finally was able to get in, it was passed the deadline for making any last-minute changes. This was for the United Airlines Flight 175 bound for Los Angeles from Logan International. She was upset when a colleague was happy that he had gotten on that flight. When news of the plane running into the South Tower, she took a leave of absence and went to nursing school. In 2005, Elise went back to flying and was assigned Flight 175, bounded for Los Angeles, she went to the bar that her colleague, Robert told her about, and had a Bloody Mary in his honor. Soon after that, she retired from flying, keeps in touch with Robert’s family, and is nursing full-time.
That last one I mentioned for a purpose. What starts out to be a bad distraction (in this case not getting the schedule you wanted), turns out to be something good after all.
Sometimes being distracted by one person can be a lifetime of messages for a bunch of people. This concludes part 1 in distractions: Good or Bad
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