Are you feeling stuck, not quite yourself, more negative than positive, anxious, worried, bored, numb or apathetic to life? Do you notice that when you make changes in your life you often end up in a similar situation as before the change and again...
Distractors are behaviors we engage in to "distract" us from going within and examining our thoughts and feelings. When you are disconnected from your thoughts and feelings you can't connect to your Inner Self. These distractors may include any of the following or even specific ones to yourself. Generally, they are an overabundance of a behavior(s), such as, overeating, undereating, smoking, drinking, drugs, sleeping too much, video games, exercising, working, planning, reading the news, watching tv, engaging in social media, "fixing" others, the list can go on and on. Engaging in some of these may be OK for limited periods of time, but if we are allowing ourselves to be engaged in them in excess, then most likely we are using them as ways to stay disconnected from our Inner Self.
Why use Distractors?
Distractors help to keep you busy. Busy enough so that you may not take a look at why you are even engaging in them in the first place. Distractors are a defense mechanism. You use them to keep yourself numb from the reality of what is actually happening in your life.
We all have distractors in our lives. When I was working on my master's thesis I had a spotless house. From top to bottom that house was whistling clean. I was doing something productive, while it served a purpose to distract me from what I really needed to be putting my energy into, the thesis. I was procrastinating, but since I was filling the time with something of value, a clean house, then I was able to offer myself a legitimate excuse. If I was sitting in front of the television instead of working on the thesis, then I would have to beat myself up over my laziness or procrastination, but choosing to clean the house was not being lazy. What I was doing was distracting myself from something I wanted to accomplish, something that was filled with unknowns and fear. Finishing my thesis meant I moved on to receiving a masters degree in psychology. It meant I would need to look for work in a field that was unfamiliar, it meant I would need to move in the direction of my potential. The truth was I was allowing a distraction into my life that prevented me from completing something that was very important to me, something that would be putting myself in a vulnerable position. The distraction example that I gave is easy to pinpoint. What about the distractions that we allow in that limit our potential that are not as easy to pinpoint. They are not obvious ones, because they become habits or behaviors that become our identity. Once they become an issue for our identity they become a very large distractor, one that in many cases limits the individual from ever being able to get a glimpse of their potential.
If you are allowing a distractor to control your day-to-day life then you will not be able to promote your potential. The distractors may be limitless in themselves. Think of yourself or others who have created a situation that limits you or them from seeking their potential. At times it becomes necessary to beat or break through the distractor before being able to even think about what you may be able to offer this world. I am suggesting that in some cases these distractors may be created to ensure that potential is not met. That people stay small. Becoming aware of your distractors will help you to stop using them as excuses for moving forward in your potential.
Use the following exercise to take a look at your distractors.
Using the box below, write out a list of what you think may be your distractors. You may have one or many. Then over the next week, take notice when you engage in these distractors. In the left column write down your distractor(s) and use the column on the right to detail when you engaged in them, how long you engaged in them and why you think you were using them.
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