Distracted! There's a Fly Buzzing Around my Room... Of Brain Trees and Concentration

There's a fly in my room. It's one of those big black slow flies we normally only see during the summer.

I expect it got here because we've had mice or rats in the crawlspace above my office, and something died up there and flies have a way of finding dead things... and then multiplying. Including in mid-winter when we basically don't see any insects at all.

The fly is really annoying me. Actually, it is not annoying me, knowing that it's buzzing around the house is annoying me, and distracting me.

I expect most people's reaction to the fly's presence would probably be something along the lines of "It's a gross disease carrying creature-- ewwww!"

The Problem of "Branching"

For me, the annoyance comes from a different place. I notice the fly-- out of the corner of my eye-- and it annoys me because it suddenly represents "a new moving data point" in my existence. Suddenly there is this other "thing" to watch, and to pull me away from what I was doing.

Which was writing a completely different post from this one.

So now... I must stop what I am doing and get the fly.

Not because it's a gross creature that feeds on dead things, but because I will be completely unable to concentrate on anything else, while it's buzzing around.

My Brain is Layered, in Some Way...

As I mentioned, I broke off writing an article, when I saw the fly... and realized that I wanted to add these words about how I experienced the fly, in my space. Now I am breaking off this second set of words, so I can go deal with the fly.

Sometimes... it gets really hard to get off the "branches" of my thoughts and back to the main tree... where I am trying to work.

For a few days, I have been writing about ADHD and how it "works" in my life.

The fly is yet another example of being easily distracted, and how distractions often are layered. It's also how I have earned a reputation (at least with some people) as being "scatterbrained" and a bit of "an absent-minded professor." 

I don't focus well when there are other things going on in my environment. 

Oddly enough, I could have the TV on and music playing when I studied for exams in college, and it never bothered me-- my roommates required absolutely silence when they were studying, but they would take weird breaks every ten minutes to do unrelated things.

I can't do that. It takes me too long to refind the place and rhythm of where I was when I left off.

And that's another thing that was annoying about the fly. I am going to have to waste time, trying to recreate my original train of thought.

How about YOU? Are you easily distracted? If you are working on something and get interrupted, is it easy or difficult for you to resume work? Do you need silence to work well? Leave a comment-- share your experiences-- be part of the conversation!

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Created at 180124 19:15 PST