Can Distraction be a Good Thing? Look, a Butterfly!

Last week was hell.

Saturday at 6:00, my air conditioner decided to switch vocations and become a full-time heater. It didn't consult me beforehand, or even leave a note, but instead just welcomed me home from work with a steamy hot, tropical hello. No matter how hard I tried to convince it that the oppressive heat was a little out of season, it insisted that my guitars and sound equipment would enjoy the humidity. The fact that it chose 6:00 on Saturday to start "thinking outside the box" is significant, because this is the exact time that my complex closes its office for the weekend. Which means that the only person capable of persuading my air-conditioner to do its job was out of reach until that next Monday... Beautiful.

That night I crawled into bed, every fan I own set to turbo. If anything could take my mind off the heat, it would be some good old fashioned Hulu therapy, so I switched on my laptop and opened my browser. What happened next is almost too horrific and scarring to share, so if you've got children reading you may want to shield their eyes for this next part.

The internet was down. Not slow, not fixable, but down. Not just for me, or my building, but for the entire complex.

I tried not to panic. I'd just get online and find the number to call to get it fixed and... Wait, how can I do that without getting online?! AM I IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE?

I hadn't gone to sleep without my Hulu fix in months. It was a rough night. I tossed and turned, dreaming of a land where air conditioners blew cold air, and the internet flowed like a raging river.

By the time the internet and air-conditioning were fixed on Wednesday, I had grown a full beard and lost 70 pounds. (Note: this part may have just been a mirage, like the oasis that periodically appeared on my living room floor, only to turn to carpet when I tried to jump in.)

The moral? I'm not sure. It could be that the human spirit drives us to survive, even without necessities like internet and air-conditioning. Or it may be that, despite the adversity, I rallied myself and ended up having a fairly productive week. My T-Shirt company bought 3000$ worth of printers and ink, I came up with a handful of designs to print, and set up my recording studio in my apartment. For a 5 day heat-wave with no heat or internet, I consider that a massive accomplishment.

I didn't go into the week with the goal of accomplishing as much as I did; I was just trying to distract myself from the heat and lack of internet. This week, I've decided to pick another distraction: I'm unplugging my TV. Every time I reach for the remote control, I'm going to stop and ask myself: "What else could I be doing?" Is there another way I could use this time to help me get ahead of the game? And if so, why aren't I doing it? The end goal is to form good habits, and simultaneously phase out the bad ones.

So if you're having one of those weekends where you just can't muster the energy to tackle your endless to-do list, give yourself a distraction. Hey look, a butterfly!



This week's listening recommendation is "Coffee" by Copeland.

---Brock ><((">