Back-to-School: Dealing with Distracting Thoughts

Distracted? It’s pretty common as we change seasons and move towards that internal back-to-school clock we all have. Back-to-school transitions affects most of us: we are either parents, or we are the second person on the “pick up after school” list, aunts or grandparents helping out, going back to school as an adult, work in one … or work with any of you !

And we also have that equivalent of “muscle memory,” where somehow our bodies and minds remember: “Oh, it’s back-to- school time,” as if we were attending again!

Back-to-Basics strategy

Make sure you have a simple way to capture thoughts/tasks/reminders and that it is always nearby.

And it’s perfectly fine to be “old fashioned” as a client just said to me, and use paper! Whatever works for YOU is what’s important.

Here’s an experiment – quick and easy – but it will tell you a lot.

Next time you think of something you need to do, say “Wait a second’ (or something like that. You may have a favorite way to pause.)
“What did Sue say … Write it down … Find one home I can trust.”
Write down your thought, idea or task … rather than doing it right away.

Right – Future steps are: Find a home for whatever you use. Return it there consistently. Remind yourself to use it.

It’s a simple and powerful solution to “internal interruptions” we create on our own, versus those that are interruptions by others.

And it is useful not only at seasonal transitions, but life’s changes and transitions, like:

a new physical diagnosis
a big change in routines
adding a child, exchange student, returning college student or puppy to your household
new job or career or role at your job
adding a new product or service
a new mental health diagnosis
divorce
a new relationship
death
caregiving

Enjoy this back-to-school, back-to-basics advice; I hope you’ll try it to see what happens for you!