DISTRACTION

2: something that distracts ; especially : amusement (a harmless distraction)

Spring Break was this week. I tried to relax my standards for the girls by letting them read more, watch more TV, play on the Wii more, just do more of what they wanted. On Wednesday, I found myself with a short fuse. The girls were just being girls. They weren't acting horrifically, but you'd never have known that had you observed my reactions. Every little thing set me off. (As evidenced by my post on mopping. Does a normal household activity really need a post dedicated to it?) It was only the next morning that I realized PMS was the source of my uncommonly curt tongue.

So Thursday, I decided to distract myself with a book. After all, it was Spring Break. Wasn't I allowed a "harmless distraction" during a vacation week? I started a book J recommended and it was quick-paced enough to distract me from most everything else. I even heated up left-over sweet potato burrito filling to avoid having to cook a real meal.

I finished my distraction just about an hour ago and to be quite honest, I just want to dive straight into another book without really coming up for air. I think the problem with distractions is that they satisfy the way junk food does - short term. I finish a book and often want to go right on to the next one. But if I keep reading books, when exactly am I going to write one? I will, at some point, have to stop distracting myself from a desire to create.

I don't want to over analyze. It was Spring Break. Books are good food for my soul. I'd choose them any day over the other common forms of anaesthesia in our society - TV, movies, games, e-mail, even blogs. But they are in fact a distraction. They do take my focus away from my family, my work, my passions. And I'm not sure that is truly harmless if I don't pause from the distractions long enough to focus on my life.