In Pursuit of a One Track Mind

I often advise myself to focus on one thing at a time as much as I can, particularly as I get older. I've discovered that when my mind is two steps ahead of my body, I am much more accident-prone. Whether it's knocking over a full pot of coffee, bumping my head on the freezer door, or tripping up the steps, when these little calamities strike, I know it's because I wasn't paying attention.

Strangely, it rarely happened at school, maybe because teaching was my jam and I was often in a flow state there. Before I retired, though, I often found myself distracted outside of work, and so I made an effort to be as mindful as I could. Then, once my days became less scheduled, it was easier to stay present most of the time.

But right now, I have two part-time jobs with kind of steep learning curves, and even just juggling the hours has become a little stressful. It's also a busy time of year-- in addition to birthday and graduation celebrations, I also need to get my garden cleaned up and planted, and we have some home maintenance projects on the calendar, as well.

Today is a good example of what I mean. This morning, I spent time writing up observation notes from my coaching job, updating details for the standardized test we're administering on Thursday, and making bread. This afternoon, I had to vote in the special election, fill the car with gas, and have a cyst on my arm removed at the dermatologist. 

I was thinking of those last two commitments as I checked in and filled out my ballot at the polls. When I stopped at the gas station on my way to the doctor, I realized I didn't have the magnetic wallet that attaches to my phone. I knew I had it when I voted, and I felt certain I had it when I went to the car. I thought I remembered clipping it to the back of my phone as I waited for Heidi to complete her ballot, so I really hoped I hadn't dropped it in the parking lot or on the sidewalk.

I was feeling extremely aggravated with myself when my phone rang. It was John Smith (yes, really) from the polling place calling to let me know I had left my wallet behind in the voting booth. There was just enough time to swing by and retrieve it before heading off to have my arm dissected, cyst resected, and incision sutured, but I tried not to focus on that!