Beautiful distractions! On my hike yesterday, I noticed a huge, but very subtle web that had captured many meals. you can't see it in this photo, can you? Click the photo to
watch a12-second video on Facebook, or watch it here on my YouTube shorts page.
Watching the video, now can you see the glimpses of the web as the sunlight hits it? It's still tricky to see, but you will definitely notice unexplained movement or visual distortion of some kind. Let your eye move around and eventually you'll catch a piece of the web.
Oh so pretty! So tantalizing!
And yet, mostly so invisible, unless you stare long enough to see it. Imagine how many
creatures accidentally landed in the middle of this permanent detour?
How often do we get trapped by a distraction that we didn't see until we were in the middle of it? Or we saw it, but it seemed innocent enough. Then
minutes, hours, or even days and weeks (months, years) later, we look up and wonder what happened.
- We are less likely to fall for detours when we are excited about where we want to go.
- We are more excited about where we want to go, when we've actually defined what we really want.
- When we've defined what we really want, we consider what needs to happen next, and plan the action steps that will lead us there.
- When we have a plan of action for something we're motivated about (for all the right reasons), we are less likely to stop at every shiny object along the way.
And yet...
I still find that I take frequent distractions as a way to cope with the fear of moving forward—the fear of getting everything I want!
So while what I just listed above will be true for many people, it won't be true for everyone all the time. It's wonderful to have goals and intentions we're passionate about, but it's also beneficial to have accountability for the action plan to lead us
there.
When I let someone know what's important to me, what steps I plan to take today or this week to get there, I am more likely to spend less time in the beautiful pitfalls life offers on a daily
basis.
"But kitten videos are so cute!", she said. Fine. Plan to watch them during a break. There's nothing wrong with intentional entertainment. It's the spontaneous avoiding we want to avoid.
And when I explore why I'm afraid to move forward, when I uncover the real reasons that I will so quickly allow myself to jump at every opportunity to become distracted, I can face my resistance with transformational
self-honesty and courage (and with the support of my accountability buddy for that, also).
Thankfully, most distractions don't have to result in permanent endings like our bug-friends who end up in a deadly web. We can
"wake up" and get back on track the second we are aware that we've wandered.
If the wandering went on for a long period of time (weeks, months, years), the solution is the same: get back on track as soon as we
notice we aren't where we want to be.
Maybe we arrived where we were headed only to realize that isn't what we want after all? That's okay. Re-define (refine) your desires and create a new plan. We can always,
always, always begin again. Starting right now!
