At the gym a few days ago, I was happily sat on a rowing machine, rowing nicely along... when I realised something. Five minutes had passed in the blink of an eye. Time had gone a lot quicker than it should go when you're exercising. I've since put this weird experience down to the Fish Game; a very exciting game where you basically row faster to get away from bad fish, and to eat the good fish. And I'm guessing I'm actually the only person ever to have played this game.
Also, drawing my lecturer as a chicken standing on a mountain, wearing sunglasses and holding skis seemed to make a lecture go a lot quicker yesterday. And made it a little weirder, too.
The reason I shared these odd experiences with you is because of the following. Recently, the whirlwind of settling back into University has made me realise, since my timetable began, I haven't had much time to spare really, and because of this, I'm a lot happier than I was over Summer, when I had nothing to do but listen to my own thoughts weighing me down.
Because I'm busy, I'm distracted from dwelling on things unnecessarily, from worrying about things, and from over-analysing pointless problems. There's nothing to be scared of if you don't have time to think to think of a reason to be scared in the first place. I can only imagine how happy I'll be in ten years time, when I'm a real adult, working in the real world.. and I'm actually really busy.
I don't think you need to be a genius to work out that if something a bit bad happens to you...the best way to deal with it is to keep busy. Well, that' what they say anyway, isn't it? Having time to think makes every situation seem ten times worse.
Then again, does distraction divert us from what we should be paying attention to? Does is take focus away from what's important? If we purposefully keep busy to avoid having any down time, are we missing the point?
Many, many moons ago, when I studied Psychology at A-level, I learnt about pain, and the different ways in which it can be eased. And I remember one popular way to ease it is distraction.
So, if we're kept preoccupied, it stops us from noticing the negative aspects of our life so much. However, if I keep flying through life at the pace I am at the minute, will I also block out the good things? The things I should be appreciating?
Do we do certain things to distract ourselves from any inner critics? For example, I often distract myself from my own anxieties by doing the complete opposite, by doing things that make me shudder with fear (which is most things, really).
Are there certain people that surround themselves with people all day long, to avoid having to look at their own lives? Do people spend more money then they have in order to hide insecurities under new, shiny clothes?
If distraction is effective in pain relief, does it do the same job for all of life's undesirable turns? Has writing this blog distracted me from doing something more productive? Or has it, in the long term, distracted me from venting my thoughts and feelings in another way?
Well, I'm not sure about anyone else, but personally, the distraction of chocolate can relive pretty much any pain. And that is what the rowing machine is for. I am a complex creature.
No comments:
Post a Comment