Author: Fallton Havenstonne

When we can’t concentrate, it feels like we’re being pulled in different directions and we don’t know what to focus on. It’s as if something keeps popping into our minds, distracting us from what we’re doing. Even when we try to block it out, it keeps returning, causing us to trip and stumble over our own thoughts.

The distractions can be caused by many things. Worry. Boredom. Noise. Tiredness. Restless thoughts. Whatever it is, it prevents us from giving our full attention and energy to our goals. For example, if we’re trying to read and we get distracted, we can get hardly grasp what’s going on in the book, let alone move on to the next page.

Trying to concentrate can be a struggle if we’re not in an environment that is quiet. For example, if we’re somewhere that has a lot of noise such as loud music, it can interrupt our concentration to no end. Or if we haven’t eaten or haven’t gotten enough sleep, that can interfere with our concentration since we’re tired, low on energy, or simply hungry.

Sometimes we can’t concentrate because we’re not interested in what we’re concentrating on. Maybe it’s because it’s not important to us, or maybe it’s not something that piques are interest. In order to concentrate, it needs to be something that takes priority over other things. For example, it can be something that we have a vested interest in, whether it is financial, our health, or maybe a personal goal (i.e. a writing goal). If it’s none of these, then we need to be disciplined about it–make it a routine. If we make that routine a habit, then we’ve essentially made it a priority.

When we compare ourselves to others, we feel like we’re lagging behind. It’s like we’ve created a competition in our minds to see who is further ahead, who has more possessions, who has more accolades, and who has everything together. And when we identify the things that we’re lagging behind in, we feel as if we can’t keep up with the race–can’t be in the competition anymore.

But when we do this, we’re judging ourselves by rules and standards that other people have come up with. Like how much savings we should have by a certain age, or how much money we should make or what kind of career we should have, etc. But these are different for everyone, and life throws curve balls at us that will either upset our plans or set us back.

It’s as if we define ourselves by how far ahead or behind we are in relation to everyone else. But is this necessary? Are we compromising our happiness for things that don’t really matter in the long run? Because in the end, our happiness isn’t measured by how far we are in the race that is the world, but in being content and grateful for what we have.

Breakfast can look different for everyone. A bowl of cereal. A sandwich. A bagel. A croissant. A salad and fruits. A muffin. A plate of scrambled eggs and toast.

It all depends on our preference, and which day of the week it is. For example, if is the weekend, we can take our time and prepare a meal or go somewhere to eat. But if it is a workday, then we’re eating something that can be made quickly and cleaned up quickly. Besides, we can’t take our time when we have to be at work.

Sometimes I’ll even skip breakfast if I’m not hungry–wait until lunch. Or I might have a snack instead of breakfast–just enough to get me going for the day.

All of us need something to energize us in the morning, whether it is tea, water, coffee, a bowl of cereal, or a smoothie. Whatever it is, we just need to make sure we make time for it.

Many people look forward to the weekend. It’s that time of the week to get uninterrupted rest, to stay home and do whatever needs to get done, whether that is catching up on sleep, finishing DIY projects, watching movies or shows, reading, or time to focus on our hobbies/goals.

But sometimes, the weekend can be just as busy as the workdays. It can be days filled with activities, events, and obligations that are just as involved and hectic as the workweek. After a long week at work, we’re drained, and we need time to replenish our energy, to rejuvenate our spirits.

If we’re draining ourselves more from an exhausting weekend, we won’t have the vigor to return to work the following week. We won’t feel as motivated about our job. Rather, we’ll feel like we need an extended weekend–more time off.

The weekend is different for everyone. It can be a time of relaxation or a time that’s busy from hour to hour. Whatever it is, it is what we make of it. Besides, we are our own boss during that time.

Thoughts start to fade when we can’t focus or when we’re tired. Or when there’s too much to remember at once. We try to memorize and recall the things we’re supposed to do before those thoughts disappear. But with everything going on around us, it’s inevitable that they will slip away and vanish.

It’s why we can’t help but forget things sometimes, no matter how hard we try not to. We’re just holding on to too many thoughts at once–too many things that are jam-packed in the “priority” bin of our mind. At a certain point, the bin will be full, and everything at the bottom will be forgotten.

It’s only when we do an overhaul that we discover all the things we were supposed to do but didn’t. We have to sort through the madness, organize everything into neat stacks and categories like we’re trying to put them inside of a binder.

Then we find things we forgot to do, things that were so important that we can’t believe that we forgot them. But could we really blame ourselves with the dozens of things we tell ourselves to do each hour–each minute? There’s only so much time in the day, and only so many things that we can remember. Besides, thoughts aren’t like books that we can access anytime we want. Some of them will just fade away.

Overtime at work means working beyond the normal hours of our shift. But we often work overtime on things not related to work. Things like our own projects, home/car repairs–even our hobbies.

Not everything in life goes as planned, especially the timeframe we set for our endeavors. Things can go wrong, or they might take more time than we initially thought. In addition, unexpected problems can occur, such as details that we overlooked or didn’t know about. These details can add hours or days on top of the work that needs to be done.

For most of the stories I’ve written, they took longer than the expected completion date I had set for myself. I found myself investing more time due to the fact that the manuscript needed more chapters, rewrites, and edits. The whole process felt like I’d never finish. But at some point, things started to come together, and gradually, there was less and less to edit and fix.

As aforementioned, overtime isn’t just something that occurs at work, but in many aspects of our lives. Our expectations of having something finished/done by a certain date is far different from the experience and effort that goes into completing a project/task. Sure, we can “complete” something in a rush just to be done with it, but quality doesn’t have an exact time frame.

Reading while the sunlight is dimming is sort of like racing against the clock. We read speedily to finish the chapter before the light goes out, before it’s too dark to read. And as the light gets dimmer and dimmer, our eyes adjust to the dimness, trying to hang on for just one more paragraph–one more page.

But the same could be said about a lot of things when the light is dimming. When the sun starts to fall, we try to finish up things at work, make it back home from a run/jog before it gets completely dark, or finish up doing whatever it is we’re doing outside, whether that is fixing the car or yard work.

It’s as if the sun is the compass of our day, and as the light gets dimmer, it’s the yellow traffic light before turning red. We’re racing to do or finish whatever it is that needs to be done before the night takes over. And even though we have electricity and lamps, it’s not the same as when the sun is out. It’s not the same knowing that within a few short hours, we have to go to sleep.

Sleep is an essential part of our day, but it’s something that seems elusive to us. We’re so busy throughout the day that we end up trying to do more than we have time to. Even after dinner, we’re still trying to get things done as if we were at work, which consequentially interferes with our sleep schedule.

And even when we get a chance to rest, the hours we sleep don’t seem to be enough. We’re tired when we wake up–grumpy even. We just want to hit the snooze button and go back to sleep. We feel like something has snatched the time from us, like the day is too short to get everything done and sleep.

Getting a goodnight’s sleep is something that everyone knows is important and essential for a healthy life. If so, then why does sleep seem so scarce? Why does it seem unattainable when it’s something as simple as going to sleep?

Maybe it has more to do with how hectic our lives can be, how much there is to do and accomplish within a short period of time. But if we prioritized sleep the same we did with everything else in our day, perhaps we can accomplish that as well.

When we put things off, we tell ourselves that we’ll get to them later. But then other things come up, things that will fill up our to-do list, which will push everything else to the back of the list.

At some point, the list will get so full that we’ll have forgotten about the things that we were supposed to do. Things like picking up items from the store, putting papers or envelopes away, getting gas for the car, or cleaning and doing chores around our home. And if we put them off, they’ll catch up with us later–piling up on our current to-do list. Then we’ll wonder why we put those things off in the first place.

Even if we organize our to do list, I find that it’s only useful if the list is short and the time frame is reasonable. If the list ends up getting too long, there might not be enough time to get to all the items on it. And if that happens, we’ll spend the next day trying to catch up with yesterday while working on today’s list.