The Distractible Mommy

I recently discovered a safely hidden secret about myself. I really don’t want to admit it even now. I’m highly distractible. By that, I mean I can go to the store with a list of 10 items  and easily spend an hour roaming around. It’s not that I can’t find the items. In fact, I know exactly where each of them are stocked. I could give you specific and efficient directions to those items if I were to send you to get them. And that’s because I am prone to wander. I am easily distracted by catchy displays and new products and pretty things. I don’t want to miss anything.

Two weeks ago, I attended a conference where I heard Carol Barnier talk about her highly distractible child. I was surprised at how easily I related to a story she told about herself, especially when she ended it with this statement: “I learned that the apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree.” Ouch.

Hi. My name is Stacie and I’m a highly distractible mommy.

The pieces fit into the puzzle a little easier for me since this discovery. Even though it hurt to see it, I’m so thankful for the realization. Some of my recent frustrations with my children stem from this character flaw. I often complain about how I just don’t seem to get anything done efficiently. I’m interrupted constantly throughout the day. They need me. It’s simple. But I want to get something accomplished! I find myself steering my little ones away to occupy themselves–more than I should.

Are you starting to feel guilty yet? That’s not my goal here, but I think many new mommies suffer from this same affliction. We think we can accomplish the same amount of tasks in a day as we once did–before having children.

You may be wondering what I’m doing about it now.

• The first thing I did was stop writing  for almost 3 weeks. That meant no significant content on this site during the month of June. {Except for my hubby’s post about honoring the new daddy.}
• I started avoiding the computer during our active hours of the day.
• I resigned to get whatever emailing and writing done during nap time.
• I am structuring our days more efficiently. More on this in a future post.
• I am deprogramming my multi-tasking brain to focus on one task at a time.
• I am remembering that my children are not the distractions.

Finally, I am reminding myself what my priorities are:

• to be actively engaged with my family
• to be fully present with my children when I am with them
• to honor my husband and appreciate him
• to make our home a warm, loving, fun place to live
• to give my children the best of my efforts toward progress

I am not Super Woman. I cannot do it all. But I can put the most important things first in my life and make my accomplishments really matter.

I am on this journey with you! What have you found to be the most frustrating part of being a mom and how are you dealing with it?

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Tagged as: focus, taking care of yourself