Flexing My Mental Muscles

It’s hard to see December folded away (I literally fold and keep my calendars, seems silly but they make awesome wrapping paper!), but I do love January.  I once lived with a girl who hated January, and I think most of February.  After the turn of the year and the holidays would pass, she knowingly would anticipate depression setting in and would bear down for the next few months until the sun brought out the wildflowers again.  It’s called SAD (seasonal depression disorder), and I felt for her while I soaked in the cold weather, jogged in the crisp mornings, and sipped my hot tea under loads of blankets.  I love being bundled up, and I love the renewal that comes with January. 

I realize it’s a mental thing.  What, really, is different today than was yesterday?  Um, my new and beautiful calendar is different, and my drive to make changes in my life is on fire! Sometimes people need an excuse or a kick in the butt to get motivated, and I am your lab rat case of New Year fever.   But nevertheless, I realize this enthusiasm will fade.

Articles about habits, how to make them stick, and how to make small but powerful steps to a simpler and healthier lifestyle are what has comprised most of my reading subscriptions this last year, which unearthed a fact that is semi-terrifying— my attention span has dwindled.   I was an English major at UC Berkeley for one reason- I prefer to spend my time reading.  I love books, I love to read, I love the smell of paper and if it was up to me and if someone would pay me for my efforts, I would read all day long.  Since my days in school though, the bulk of the reading material I have consumed has been digital and has been short form.  I consciously seek out shorter articles, and if something interesting is long, I skim.  Obviously, I am not the first person to point out that attention spans are shrinking with the rise of the internet and the sharing of information in quick, small little bites.  But I have noticed the effects of this truth in my daily life, and it’s time to change that. 

This blog is one way I am working on elongating my attention span and increasing my brain power.   With that in mind, while I will try my damnest to not waste words, I will not censor myself here in the interest of short and sweet.  No one may be reading this to begin with, and it’s likely that means no one new will start reading this (see short attention spans epidemic), but even with those projections I think long form of quality instead of short form with none will ultimately prevail, and will certainly be better for me and my attention span.   I also believe a shorter attention span feeds directly into the inability to stick with plans formulated in the hopeful wee hours of the year.  Elongating my attention span, therefore, will hopefully help me stick to the tougher, more time consuming and patience demanding goals I have set for myself, such as: learning Spanish, reading 12 books (one per month), learning to meditate, and exercising.   Oh, and blogging!

I usually write these posts on Mondays and let them marinate for a day before posting. In the interim, I read this article.  I found myself almost closing the article three different times, not because it wasn't interesting, but because it felt long.  I started to think of other things I could be doing, even though I was interested. I started to think I knew where she was going, so didn't need to read anymore.  While that last one might be true (the article is pretty clear from the beginning), I made myself finish the article. I consciously realized where my mind was going and recognized my short attention span kicking in, and I read to the end of the short article that felt long.  So here's to small victories on the road to change...