More and more I find that I am distracted. Distracted by this, distracted by that.

“Squirrel!!!” If you ever watched the movie “Up” you know what I am referring to. It’s me so much of the time and I am trying to correct that annoying habit.

When I get distracted I miss so much of what I should be focused on. It’s true. I really have the ability to multi task, and have done so successfully for years, but find that some days I just am distracted to the point of not even being able to single task let alone multi task.

I think sometimes it is the world that influences me to flit around from thing to thing and not focus on the thing I should be focusing on. Or at least I blame it on the world. We have so many things that are vying for our attention these days – cell phones pinging and beeping at us, tv’s shouting at us, billboards proclaiming the answer to everything. It’s all out there.

Yesterday Chris and I watched some distracted parents. We were walking around the inlet of the beach and the water that comes in at this point is unpredictable. You could tell that it dropped off pretty significantly just a couple feet out from the sand dune. A young boy was playing in the water. The tide was coming in. The parents were trying to get the perfect picture location and were not paying attention one bit to the little boy. Chris, once a lifeguard, always a life guard, just stood there and watched and watched. The bank where the boy was trying to climb back up was falling away into the water as he tried. It was obvious that he was not going to get up it without help and yet his parents were not paying attention. While he didn’t say anything, Chris was ready to react if needed. The parents finally saw their son was struggling and they helped him up but then the mom was right down there with him a couple minutes later as the water lapped at the eroding sand. We finally moved on but it spoke to me of how being distracted in certain situations can have dire circumstances.

I think of all of the times when the boys were little and I was driving and I was totally distracted by their antics in the back seat. Ugh. I think we all remember a time or two when we have not been focused like we should be but fortunately it all worked out.

So any hints on how to reign in distractions? Limit the opportunities to be distracted? I am open to suggestions and ideas so if you have any to share I would love to know what they are. Remember to leave me a comment and remember that every comment means a 50 cent donation to Asheville Cat Weirdos Emergency Vet Fund.