Nope Diary #14

nope to the constant grind of multi-tasking

Does this scenario sound familiar to you?

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Go downstairs and stumble for a light switch because freaking daylight savings makes 7am feel like midnight again. Let the dogs out from their crates, tell them they are very good boys, and then the dance begins.

Sausage in the toaster oven while prepping oatmeal for the microwave, but wait, the kettle needs water for coffee, and lunch never got packed. Grab the necessary ingredients from the fridge for lunch while the microwave beeps and the kettle whistles. Abandon the lunch ingredients to take the oatmeal out and start the coffee making process, but pause to grab the sausages when the timer dings. Start prepping lunch again only to remember the coffee. And now there are three other people in the kitchen all in each other’s way (not to mention the dogs who always want to be in front of or behind a human’s legs).

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Am I the only one with mornings like this? Flitting from one task to the next, never finishing anything completely before rushing to start or help with another?

How about this scenario?

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It’s the end of the week, and everyone is snuggled in for pizza and a movie. Maybe it’s your turn to pick. But five minutes in, the pizza is gone and your limbs feel restless. You can’t sit still. So you pick up your phone and scroll. You scroll and scroll while the movie plays. Maybe you look up and realize no one is really watching except for the youngest who doesn’t have a phone so doesn’t have the luxury of distraction upon distraction.

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I know I can’t be the only one who does this. I can’t be the only one who finds sitting still or being present for one thing almost impossible.

One more.

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It’s the end of a long day and it’s finally time to read that book you’ve been thinking about all day. But when you do, you can’t focus. So maybe you check your phone for a minute that somehow turns into sixty. Then the night is gone and it’s time to go to bed and maybe you’ll still read but only for a few minutes until your eyes get too heavy and you fall asleep.

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Okay, so I realize two of those scenarios have to do with being on the phone and the other one is just your (or my) typical morning. But what all three of these scenarios have in common is an inability to do one thing at a time. To start something and finish it before starting something else. To exist in one reality without reaching for a hundred other realities.

Why do I do this? Sometimes I think it’s because I’m scared of stillness. Because if I’m not doing something, listening to something, watching something…what will come up? What will I remember?

I don’t really know. And I don’t really have answers. The point of putting this out there for you to read is that I’m guessing it’s not just me. I’m guessing there’s more of us.

So think of this as my little wave to all the other multi-taskers who maybe want to try something different.

(Hi.)

And over the next ten days (remember the ten day pact?), I’m going to try mindful presence over productivity. Presence over distraction. I’m going to try to embrace more silence and less constant intake of sound, ideas, and chatter. Basically, I’m going to try and make my lunch ahead of time and hit pause on social media.

I’ll let you know how it goes.

🖤,

Elizabeth