10:05 a.m.
What is that noise outside? Is someone mowing the lawn? Ding! New email! Click. Alright, it looks like we are doing Mad Greens for lunch. Shoot, that reminds me, I forgot to recycle my cup. Ok, where was I? First, I need to get some work done. Inter-office mail delivery!
[Opening up the letter halfway, I am distracted by an ad that just popped up on my computer.]
Click. Ok, I need to email this girl in Japan back and see if I can get her transcripts. I need to open up her file and get her email address … I wonder what the Denver Post is saying today. Wait, no I’m going to go to the Opinion Journal. Click. Click. This page is taking too long to load, I’ll open another tab and see if I can order flowers for my Aunt. Click. Oops, I don’t have her address, I need to text Caitlyn to get it.
[Digging in my drawer I find my phone.]
Oh! I have an email from Student Universe, I wonder if there are some good travel deals to Bahrain next year. [Setting my phone down]. Click. Click. Click. Bummer no rates for when I need to go. Maybe I’ll check rates for New York in August. Click. I need to set up that meeting for Heaven Fest and make sure that the Committee meeting is on the calendar. Have I bought my Chicago tickets yet? I have three papers to write tonight and dinner. I have no idea how I’m going to get this all done.
[Phone is ringing.]
Ok, that was Sam again. I need to review his file today. Just received his transcript. Ok, what was I doing? What is this half-opened letter on my desk? Is it mine? Oh yes, New York air fares. New York! I can’t wait to see Lauren, as a matter of fact, I think I’ll email her right now. No, wait, I’ll text her. Where is my phone? My gosh, I’m thirsty. I’m going to go get some water. What is Beth screaming about? Oh there’s a spider in her office. I hate spiders. That reminds me, when is Batman coming out? I’m going to check premier dates. Click. Ok, wait, I was doing something. Right! I’m thirsty, need to get some water. What is my phone doing out? Was I texting somebody? I need a new ringtone. Ringtone, that reminds me, who is mowing the lawn?
10:34 a.m.
I have been known to exaggerate. However, the above? Not an exaggeration. That was an actual sample of 29 minutes of my life. In 29 minutes of time, I was unfocused, unproductive, over-stimulated, and scattered to the point of hyperactive brain wave chaos. I have so much to do, but there is so much that I start doing too much to the point of inactivity. In fact, the only thing I accomplished in that time span was a good bout of laughter from my colleague’s aversion for spiders. And, while this may be very hard to believe, this is not the first time a stint of time has elapsed with little to no productivity. Gasp!
After this little episode and already being aware of my debilitating "condition," I became desperate for a cure and started wondering if I was the only young professional out there suffering under the shackles of such ADD-like behavior. So, I did some research. And by research I mean, going to the gym and reading Self magazine.
Leafing through the glossy pages, I found a gold mine. Hidden between the extremely fit spandex-strewn women images on page 88 was an article that has – in a small amount of time – changed my life. (Ok not really, just made me think and made my workout appear short). The author of the article detailed her constantly moving, constantly scattered, self-diagnosed ADD life. She detailed how her thought life played out, and the effects it has had on her productivity, her relationships, and her own psyche. At one point, I had to stop walking on the stair stepper because I couldn’t believe my eyes: She was describing my life.
She went on to talk about how she felt everything was rushed. She had a million social events to be at, often times not enough time to work out, her job was spinning off its axis it was so busy, and her mind was a jumbled mess of to-do lists that never seem to get accomplished. She had a hard time sitting down and actually watching a TV show or reading a book for pleasure because all she could think about was she should be writing, working, cleaning, baking, etc. Prioritizing was also a difficult task in that pleasing everyone was always at the forefront of her mind so she just kept piling on the responsibilities. Mid-article I stopped and just had to laugh. Do I have a twin I don’t know about?
I read on practically salivating to find out how the author was going to tell me how to bring my life in alignment with the cosmos and become the most productive person on earth. But then, the article took a sharp right turn into Crazytown. In order to combat her addiction to chaos, she decided to try to slow things down by taking meditation classes from a Buddhist. She began describing how he would teach her to savor moments, focus on her breathing, “experience” eating as opposed to just eating, and a bunch of other a-typical “new age movement” procedures. But by the end of her journal-type entry article, she concluded that this kind of slowing down and savoring really helped her actually live in the depths of her life as opposed to merely sliding around on the surface.
I set the magazine down and was getting back to my workout when it started making sense why all these New Age methods are becoming wildly rampant. Our culture is constantly pushing us to be more productive, more successful, and more beautiful and consequently we as people have never been so overexerted, overwhelmed, and pushed to the limits than we are now. (As I was thinking this, I added five notches of resistance and boosted my pace on the machine. Case in point!) The lunacy of our ever-growing massive to-do lists and success-obsessed focus has pilfered away our sanities and is stripping us of our capabilities of living lives of contentment.
In fact, when I perused some research databases on the subject matter and read some journal articles, it was shocking to see how much literature is in existence about the dire state of our frenzied, busy, and over stimulated culture. (I’m not going to cite anything here because quite frankly, citing nauseates me.) There is, however, a web site called The Simple Living Network and it is designating October 24th as “Take Back Your Time Day.” They tag it as a “major U.S./Canadian initiative (Wait, Canada and initiative in the same sentence? Impossible) to challenge the epidemic of overwork, over-scheduling, and time famine that now threatens our health our families and relationships, our communities and our environment.” I think this is a great idea in theory, but do we actually have to have a DAY to take back our time? Seems a little silly. Or a lot silly rather. There has to be a better way.
After I left the gym and I was reflecting on the tale of revival via Buddhist mediation techniques, I couldn’t argue with the author in regard to the fact that her life seemed to slow down for the time being. But what struck me as tremendously sad was while she may have found temporary solace; she had not found where she could find real and permanent Rest. The Rest that comes from our Creator and from the one who said “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens and I will give you rest.” Suddenly, as I was sitting there wishing the author knew the Lord, it dawned on me, I allegedly know Him and His promises but I’m not tapping into his offer either. I find myself feeling like I’m running around like a decapitated goose half the time while allowing the sound of my computer email and my phone alert to send my blood pressure to unoxygenated heights. There is no rest in that. And there is definitely no rest in such inattentive scenarios that began this blog.
While Buddhist meditation is definitely not the remedy to busyness and ADD-like tendencies, I think the author of the article I read had it right: You have to slow down. You have to be thankful for the little things. However, what she was missing was the larger piece: You have to know God. And the only way to do this is by prioritizing Him. Everything can be a distraction if we allow it. A lot of distractions will eventually become a deafening and blinding mass of distractions and will only lead to discontentment and half-open letters.
Since that day at the gym, I really feel like my ADD tendencies have been on the decline. (Perhaps others would disagree?) But, I can feel it in myself and I can feel a heightened focus on all tasks when I simply take the time to recognize and spend time with the One that really matters. Because of this, I am convinced that Ritalin is a farce. I'm going public about it.
Consequently, in summation, I really have to thank Self Magazine and all other trash magazines for consistently publishing preposterous content so it is blatantly obvious what is truth.
[Oh, and just for your information, it is 5:23 p.m. and I would put my productivity rating at an 8 on a scale of 1-10 for the day. So long are the shackles of ADD!]
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