distracted

I am working on a project at the moment [a photographic exhibition exploring The Good Life]. I spent yesterday interviewing excellent.folk about their lived experiences of well.being.

The thing that surprised me was that I was surprised, by the strategies that different people develop for living their own best.lives. I don’t know why I was surprised, it makes sense (of course) that individuals work out what works best for them. But I was: excellently, inspiringly surprised.

One of the women who came along, spoke (beautifully) frankly about the anxiety that has shadowed her for years and about the distraction techniques she uses to deal with it.

Her thoughts got me thinking: I have never considered distraction as a response to anxiety. I have thought about changing thoughts [using Cognitive.Behavioural techniques] and I have thought about accepting thoughts [drawing on the ideas of Acceptance.Commitment.Therapy]. But I have never really considered distraction.

Distraction tends, for me, to conjure ideas of suppression; of not dealing with something, of pushing it down, of stuffing it away. Leaving it there: a creepy.coiled.up.jack.in.the.box.clown, just waiting to spring out as soon as you turn your back.

But you know what? Distraction, in some forms is a great idea.

I was driving yesterday. In convoy: with a big van and a trailer, filled to bursting with the practical contents of My Life. The trailer was covered by a tarpaulin and it was windy. Boy, was it windy! Driving behind that trailer in my own packed.to.pieces car, I was feeling unusually anxious. The van seemed to swirl with the wind, the tarpaulin seemed about to lift off, and My Life seemed ready to spill, all over me [travelling at warp.speed] and onto the speeding highway. The more I drove behind that trailer, the more anxious I became. The greater the scenes of impending tragedy loomed. The more I began to panic.

Obviously, this was crazy. My Lovely One had secured that trailer to within an inch of its stuff.hauling.life. But my anxiety was careening out of control.

So, friends. Do you know what? I distracted myself: I turned up the radio, I drove ahead of that crazy.trailer and I tried not to look into my rear-view mirror (too much).

If you know something makes you anxious and you can distract yourself from it in the short term, in a way that is healthy and allows you to exhale, why not?