I’ve Been Struggling With Distractions Lately
Endless amounts of entertainment from streaming services, games, and social media, just to name a few.
The world today is full of easy distractions
Merriam-Webster.com gives the definition of distraction as 1: something that distracts: an object that directs one's attention away from something else; 2: the act of distracting or the state of being distracted
especially: mental confusion.
So, in actuality, most anything can become a distraction. Even activities normally considered “positive” or “productive” such as a job, a hobby, household chores, can be classified as a distraction if done as a way to avoid something else.
The list of potential distractions goes on and on.
Distractions can start innocently enough
Maybe it starts as a curiosity. A way to pass a few minutes of time. We may use distractions to try to escape from feelings that we perceive as “bad”, such as anger, sadness, grief, and so on.
And it works, at least at first. We may find joy in our distraction and since we initially find relief from the “bad” we continue. Eventually though the joy tends to fade and instead we grow numb. Sending us to find a new distraction to again bring us “good” feelings.
Now I am not a mental health or medical professional. So what I am sharing here are just my own opinions and none of this should be considered any type of medical advice.
But these ideas of distractions make me wonder, what would it be like if we didn’t label our feelings as bad or good? What if we allowed them to just be? Observe them for what they are?
Would we still need distractions from our feelings if we sat with them instead and allowed them to be?
It seems to me that we have grown so accustomed to distracting ourselves that we no longer have the tolerance to sit with our emotions and process them.
I’m not saying that all distractions are always a bad thing. I believe sometimes distractions can be useful until we are in a place that we can come back and sit with whatever emotions we need to process.
In my opinion the issue occurs if we don’t ever face the underlying emotions. It’s important to be mindful of what we are doing and why we are doing it.
Is there something you are using as a distraction?
Are there emotions you've been avoiding that would be to your benefit to observe and process?
A couple of ways to help ease yourself from distractions is to practice yoga and/or meditation.
Here at Robyn Bodde Yoga we have both live and pre-recorded yoga classes that you can participate in. Click here to learn more.
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If you are going through a challenging time please know there are resources out there.