Even though improv has taught me so much about being in the moment and just staying present and focused on the one thing I'm doing at any given moment, some days I'm still like the poster child for ADHD or something. Today is that day.
It's one of those weeks where I had big stuff to do - like deadlines and whatnot - for ALL of the various jobs I have. And none of those things played along with the pre-planning and agenda-ing I had done. Servers being down on the other side of the world interfered with my idea of what I thought I would do and when, which meant I had to adapt. People giving me misinformation about meeting times meant I had to adapt. The bloody f*ing heat meant I had to adapt.
That's all well and good, up to a point. I have also learned in improv how to adapt and go with the flow, and that portion of my training kicked in just swell and I flowed from one thing to the next if not effortlessly, at least successfully.
But for the life of me, I couldn't just be in the moment. Because of the constant adapting, I was running through 8 gazillion scenarios in my head of what I would do to make up for snafu #31, for example, and I didn't put proper attention on the task I was currently involved with. Three separate times today, I went the wrong way on the way to places I've been literally hundreds of times. I was thinking about what I was going to do after that particular errand and missed my exit, turned the wrong way or just plain drove right past my destination. Did I mention three times? Jeez.
Anyway, it's all good. All the whatnots got dealt with, I didn't get permanently lost and I see the humor in my folly. But I also see that the week would've been a lot more enjoyable and a lot less stressful if I hadn't let myself spin out, and that makes me want to work harder at just being in the moment.
So I will. You can, too, if you want. I won't make you, though - I wouldn't want to force my agenda.
By Sonnjea Blackwell
