distraction, good vs. evil

a little humor in my title  I do have a good sense of humor through all of this ADD stuff.Distraction has been my main problem most of my life I believe!

“Pay attention, listen better, you’re not listening, you can do better next time, you’re not working up to your full potential”  

Yes, these are all lovely phrases that I remember hearing quite often as a child and also in high school.

I love to bake and I’ve always loved to bake.  I remember one time during summer break I wanted to make some chocolate chip cookies.  Somehow the chips got melted during the mixing process (probably after I poured the hot melted butter on top of them in the mixing bowl).  So – my cookies turned out to be more of a Chocolate-chocolate chip cookie.  When my mom got home from work that day – she was so pissed that I couldn’t follow directions correctly that I’m surprised that I ever attempted to bake again!  It still saddens me to this day when I think about how she could have approached the situation differently.

Distraction – ugh.. as a parent, it’s good because you are always aware of what’s going on, but then again it’s hard because you cannot tune out your children for anything and it’s so easy to get overwhelmed.  I have a short fuse and when both of my kids are whining I just want to crawl in a hole and hope that they will quietly retreat to the bookshelf, find a book and sit down to read.

When my husband and I were first dating, he thought it was strange that I always seemed to be eavesdropping on other people when we were out in public places.  I really wasn’t eavesdropping, but I cannot help hearing EVERY thing around me and I hate it.  Somehow it’s gotten better because I make a really conscientious effort to focus on him and our conversation at hand.  I even start talking about a subject to try to not hear others.  It’s almost better when we go out for dinner with our kids because they are busy wiggling, giggling, and checking out the salt and pepper shakers that it keeps me occupied.  

Distraction sucks.  But there are positives.

• I think it makes me a great driver.  I’m always aware of other cars and where they are at.  
• I can always sense if someone is upset and then I feel for them and cannot concentrate on what I should be concentrating on  - even if I don’t know them.
• I can get a million things done in a day – or nothing.

You take the good with the bad.  I’m trying to live with this ADD stuff one day at a time.  I’m trying to relish the positive and not focus (ha ha – focus, yeah right) on the negative.

more to come