Giving Up Distractions--Procrastination

Are you a habitual procrastinator? We all put things off from time to time, but when we make it a habit, the weight those items that we are leaving undone can accumulate and hold us back from living the lives we hope for. I feel the pressure when there is a to-do list in the back of my mind, even when I'm not consciously thinking about it. I feel much lighter these days as a result of reducing the distractions I've been working on this Lent, including removing those burdens of procrastination.

If you have let certain things go for too long, start by getting them out of your head and on paper. That way you won't have to continue trying to hold them in your memory. Do the things you can easily do first. You might have doctor appointments that you need to make, a thank you letter or other correspondence that you need to send, phone calls to return, an overdue trip to the grocery store, or basic housework that needs attending to. Just catching up on the laundry can give one a huge boost!

Then you can move on to the longer, more involved projects. Repairs to the house, painting a space that desperately needs it, decluttering a room filled with overwhelming piles of stuff...

And that's where I am now. Having caught up on the smaller procrastinated items, I have no excuse left not to get to finishing my paring down and re-ordering of personal and household possessions. The best place to start is always with your own clothes. I've been in the habit for the past few years of going through my clothing in the spring and when the cold days of fall hit. I give away pieces that no longer fit or that I don't like anymore, or have just seen better days. This process helps with one's Lenten almsgiving. I'm putting the winter clothes I'm keeping away in the back of my closet and getting my spring/summer items washed.

For the rest of Lent I will keep you posted on my process of giving up clutter--once and for all! But remember, in all of the hustle and bustle of housekeeping and hospitality a la Martha, to prioritize the better part that Mary has chosen.

Giving Up Distractions--Social Media, Email & the News

I hope everyone is having a good Lent! The next set of distractions I've been working on reducing is social media, email, and the news. I am down to checking each of these only once per day, or at least that is the goal! The first thing I typically do is to log in to my yahoo account and check my email. I've already reduced blogs, newsletters, and the like that I subscribe to, so there typically isn't too much for me to go through. I immediately delete whatever I don't need. I cancel subscriptions to things I don't wish to receive; or maybe I did want to receive them, but I realize that I just don't have time to deal with it at the rate that it comes in.

My yahoo inbox will usually lead me to Facebook notifications, so I deal with those next. I respond to any ongoing conversations on my wall or in groups. Occasionally I scroll through my news feed. When I've closed out of my email, the yahoo news page comes up. I quickly look at the headlines. If something looks really interesting, I click on it. I'd say at least 90% of the stories are junk. I know all the political features are biased, so I rarely read them.

I spend no more than a half hour in the morning with these three items. Now, sometimes I might check back with Facebook or email if I'm expecting an important message, but most days I keep this process to once a day. Then I am FREE the rest of the day from having to think about or react to anything I read or see. This makes it difficult to get caught up in any arguments on social media, if you have to wait until the next day to revisit it! I'm not a member of Twitter. This week my goal is to check my media only 3 times the entire week. Today was one! I want to be weaned down to nothing for Holy Week, so I will have no media distractions during that important time.

We don't have TV reception at my house, so I don't watch the news. If you do have TV, try not to watch more that one news program a day. When I did have TV, the same news was repeated all day long. There was a Netflix show that I was watching too often, but I finished all the seasons last week, and I'm picking up no new shows. I listen to Catholic Radio probably no more than half an hour, maybe 4 or 5 times per week. Try not listening to the radio at all when you're in the car! Oh, I don't have a "smart phone," so I don't have that temptation. If you do, consider setting serious limits there as well.

The thing to recognize is that checking our electronic media is habitual, even compulsive. It can be a way of escaping whatever it is that we ought to be doing or would be better off engaging in--like conversations with family members, visiting in person with friends and relatives, prayer and meditation, exercise, spiritual reading, good books, and clearing clutter. Virtual life has replaced real living. We must get our priorities straight, put first things first. One of the best things we can do for our children is to role model good habits! Remember, Lent is our time in the desert.

I'd love to hear about how you are reducing your distractions this Lent!

Giving Up Distractions: Homeschooling Resources

Today we are continuing the series on giving up distractions for Lent. In the last post I discussed the distraction of researching homeschooling methods and advice and recommended paring down your membership in Facebook homeschooling groups and the general online searching of blogs and the like. I emphasized choosing a method and sticking to it, pulling focus and buckling down. Proceeding with confidence.

The reason that I want to touch some more upon this topic is that a few days ago I received Seton Home Study's catalogue in the mail. I am on their mailing list because we use some of their books. The catalogue was glossy, colorful, and oh-so-enticing! I started to fantasize a little. How easy it would be to switch entirely to Seton, maybe even get the lesson plans. Wouldn't this be so much simpler than creating my own Charlotte Mason curriculum and schedule? My friends, the grass always does look greener on the other side.

Then I started thinking about Catholic Heritage Curricula, and how their program is a more "gentle" approach and can be used in the CM style. At least that's what they say, but I have my doubts about the reality of using an open-and-go program in its entirety while authentically adhering to the CM philosophy. I went online to find discussions comparing Seton with CHC and which program people like better. Was this helpful? Of course not. Everyone has an opinion, a preference, or really no idea what they want to do. But maybe I should pick up a spelling program, the devil on my shoulder whispered. I looked at the spelling book samples at the CHC website, as I have done a number of times. Each time I decide that, no, this is not going to be helpful. We just need to keep following CM's method for language arts consistently, as it does work! Sure, we can use a few carefully selected books from Catholic homeschooling publishers within our CM curriculum, but we can't have our cake and eat it too.

It is so tempting to add just one more thing, and sometimes there is indeed a gap that needs to be filled. However, could you fill it with a library book? Or maybe you already have a book in your home that you can use. For example, we've been using the Nature Anatomy book that Beezy got for Christmas. I found that it does not give enough breadth of information, so we need a second resource. I've used both Anna Comtock's Handbook of Nature Study and A Story Book of Science (Fabre), which we own. Another great book that I forgot we had until today is a Reader's Digest publication, ABC's of Nature: A Family Answer Book that I picked up at a library book sale. And of course you can always find great science stuff for kids online.

All of this is to say that we have to stop trying to reinvent the wheel. We need to give up this distraction of self-doubt when it comes to homeschooling, and this addiction to unnecessarily acquiring curriculum books and resources. Sometimes we just need a refresher course on how to approach a particular subject. Since I was feeling "wobbly" today about science, I went to the cabinet in which I keep my homeschooling resource books and pulled out Real Learning by Elizabeth Foss and reread the section on science (nature study).

These insecurities and impulses to assuage them will come up. Don't beat yourself up over it. Stop and reflect upon the root of the problem. Why are you doubting your chosen method? Why do you think you need another book (or to do yet another online search), either for yourself or for your child's curriculum? Perhaps you simply need to go back and revisit a topic or subject, remember why you chose to do things this way in the first place, and figure out what information you may need to proceed in the right direction.

For instance, in the Nature Study example I gave, I have just been feeling like I want it to be more vital and living. Soon the weather will allow for more nature walks, and there will be all kinds of new growth to observe. Since The Story Book of Science's selections lead into each other, it is difficult to choose a particular topic at random. Therefore, I'm going to proceed in it from where we last left off and use Nature Anatomy as a supplement, which contains lovely illustrations and succinct bits of information.  I want to have more drawing incorporated into Beezy's nature notebook, and Nature Anatomy has selections for use in this area as well. So this is how I want to pare down our nature studies, though of course I can use one of the other books as a need arises. I want to relax and allow for schole, the classical concept of learning as leisure.

And as for that lovely Seton catalogue? Before it could drive me crazy, I tossed it into the recycling!

Remember, whatever our grand plans, we can only carry them out one day at a time. Just do today and let tomorrow worry about itself.  From Matthew 6:

²⁵ “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? ²⁷ Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life^[a]?
²⁸ “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. ²⁹ Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. ³⁰ If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? ³¹ So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ³² For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. ³³ But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. ³⁴ Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. 

Giving Up Distractions for Lent (series introduction)

I have decided to give up distractions for Lent. Ash Wednesday is not until the first of March this year, so we have three full weeks before Lent begins. But a productive Lenten observance is more likely if we have thought about it ahead of time and prepared. For example, if you want to give up coffee, it would not be advisable to go cold turkey. You would first want to cut down the amount you drink over a period of time, so you don't suffer massive withdrawal symptoms. I may or may not give up coffee, but if I decide to, giving up distractions would facilitate the process. How?

Well, I have found that distractions rob me of sleep. Worrying distracts me and can cause insomnia, making it difficult to fall asleep, to stay asleep, and/or to go back to sleep when I awaken too early. When I don't get enough sleep, I drink more coffee. Caffeine can contribute to insomnia as well, and in my case it also causes stomach problems. An upset stomach, in turn, can lead to insomnia and is an additional distraction. So you see the cycle. If distractions which cause insomnia are eliminated, then I will sleep better and hence need less coffee, and my stomach will thank me! Ultimately I have to reduce the number of things which cause me to worry, feel stress, and make me lose my focus. Before determining what you will give up for Lent, think about going deeper spiritually and rooting out the underlying reasons for your stumbling blocks. Then formulate your plan.

Today I made a list of my top 5 worst distractions. One of them is physical clutter, which has sub-categories to be tackled one at a time. I consider distractions themselves to be a form of clutter, either mental or emotional. Even if giving up distractions will not specifically be part of your Lenten practices, many of us would have a better quality of life if we worked on pinpointing and reducing those things which worry, aggravate, and deplete us, ultimately preventing us from finding true joy, meaning, and purpose. They keep us focused on the wrong things, and we leave important things undone. We become scattered and lose our serenity. As home educators, there is no way we can effectively teach from rest if we fritter away our time and energy on distractions.

I want to have my project for giving up distractions well under way by the time Ash Wednesday arrives. This was the day to take the first step of making my list, and in fact I am already tackling one of my key distraction areas. If you want to join me, make your list soon and start thinking about how you will accomplish your goals. I will cover each of my items in a series of posts titled, Giving Up Distractions. So stay tuned, and let me know how your process is going!