Life gets in the way

I have to start by saying I’m in one of those weird moods, feeling optimistic and grateful and enjoying all the small things in my world like coffee and lemon scones and listening to NPR this morning with my husband. We made the scones the other night—a recipe from Martha Stewart—and they turned out great. It is so rare that we have a morning like this when we’re not rushing off to work; I just have to savor it. Soon I’ll need to clean the kitchen and go to the grocery store and continue grading that stack of student papers, but for now I’m going to just write because I’ll go crazy if I don’t. And yes, all of this sometimes makes me feel old, but I like getting older. And I like lemon scones.

The real subject of this post isn’t about everyday bliss, though.

What I want to talk about is daily distractions, whatever form they might come in. No matter how excited I am, sometimes life gets in the way. I can't spend all day creating a blog and writing a novel when the work I actually get paid to do (teaching and grading papers) is waiting. What about the messy kitchen, the smelly litter box, the pile of laundry that needs to be folded and put away? I constantly get distracted and overwhelmed by everything I need to do. How can I fit it all in? How does anyone do it?

I don't have a solution to offer to this problem--not yet, at least. It's just an issue I wanted to throw out there, as a way to let you know that it is normal and often unavoidable to get distracted. The solution, I think, is about finding a balance, finding a way to do the things you want to do and the things you need to do. I'll keep working on it. In the meantime, I'm open to suggestions...