Fixing our Focus

As media firestorms continue to take over the front page news and the internet, I can’t help but continually ask myself “Why?”. Negative story after negative. Silly questions flying off reporter’s tongues. Precious time wasted trying to uncover the “wrong-doings” of another. Why do we as a country salivate on the manipulation, harassment, embarrassment, and humiliation of others? Why is Manti Te’o still being talked about in the news? Why are people still questioning if President Obama is a U.S. citizen? Why is TMZ the most popular news source? Why, oh why, must we focus our attention in all the wrong places?

Distraction.

Distraction is the one action that could hold us back from obtaining and achieving everything we want in life. Friends, television shows, parties, sleep, cell phones, sporting events, jobs…you name it and I’m willing to bet these have served as a distraction in our lives. Our generation is buzzing 24/7 – Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Reddit – our itch to stay relative on what’s hot constantly steals our attention. When we get a chance to lookup…hours, days, weeks or months have passed and we haven’t much to show.

Distraction.

Distraction is a synonym for destruction. If we allow ourselves to continually lose focus on the dreams we want to achieve, the friend we want to become or the man we want to represent, we will slowly find ourselves looking up and questioning how we ended up at this destination. The place we land may not appear to have cracks in the floor, dirt on the walls or dust on the furniture, but anytime we fall short of the place we are destined to occupy, we have shortchanged ourselves.

Distraction.

We can no longer afford distraction to consume our lives. We have too many talents and too much drive to let the world around us prevent us from living out our purpose. What is distracting you? More importantly, who is distracting you? Are you willing to clear the white noise from your life and focus on what you love?

If you are willing, I’m ready to ride with you. I’m not perfect and I’m distracted all the time. I write this post not just for you, but for us. I need some people to ride shotgun in my vehicle to success. I can’t do it alone. Grab the keys and let’s readjust or focus. 

Looking forward to an amazing drive.

Love,

Mr. J

© LoveJays 2013

Ir·ri·tate (Verb) 1. Make (someone) annoyed, impatient, or angry.

Q: Dear Love Jays,

My boyfriend drives me straight up crazy sometimes with his tendencies to procrastinate and give up easily when there are obstacles instead of using his brain to figure out a solution. Is this something that he’s ever likely to just grow out of and man up???

A: Dear My Man Quits too Easily:

It’s rare to mix “man” and “quit” in the same sentence. From a young age, boys are groomed to never quit and always fight through adversity. I can vividly recall the countless number of times my drill sergeant-esque father would shout (if you know my father, you understand shouting is his ONLY method of communication) in my direction any time my body language suggested that I was ready to give up regardless if I was on the court or completing a homework assignment. As with most men who experienced the same childhood lessons preached by dad, we were almost programmed to never let the world get the best of us.

Unfortunately, not all boys have the privilege of receiving such invaluable lessons at an early age. Growing up could have been easy. Maybe he didn’t have work hard to accomplish his goals or he knew how to “get his way” when the going got tough. Who knows. I firmly believe parenting styles have a DYNAMIC effect on the way boys mature into men and how they approach life in general.

I’m not quite sure where I am going with this response, but it seems like I wanted to vent for a little bit. In regards to your boyfriend, I am confident he will eventually grow out of his childish ways and take a mature approach to challenges. It just may take a little longer than you anticipated. Consider his background and find ways to encourage him. You can always pull his man card – we hate when it happens, but when pulled appropriately, we will do everything in our power to make sure it doesn’t happen again!

Sincerely,

Mr. J

A: Dear Oober Frustrated,

Ok, let’s start with the procrastination factor. I am queen procrastinator. Not because I am lazy, but because there is a whole list of things I’d rather do. Call it irresponsible if you will, well actually yea call it irresponsible because that is what it is. The older I get the better I am with doing things right away. I still do not like it and my natural instinct says to put it off , but I know now that I am “grown” I have to act like it. I think this may be the case with your boyfriend. He just needs to suffer the consequences of procrastination a couple times. I mean real consequences; I’m talking he misses out on something he really really wanted, or having to pay so large a sum that he has to pick up extra work. It is going to have to be extreme. If he has been procrastinating his whole life there is a reason why…because it has worked in his favor!

And now as to the “giving up” try to encourage him. People typically quit out of fear. Something else to consider is that he simply could have just changed his mind. Sometimes you have to put something down in order to reach for something greater.  Just a thought!

Love,

Miss J

© LoveJays 2012