Destruction of Distraction
By: Maria Reylan M. Garcia
A classmate who just got a near-failing grade in one of our hourly
exams asked me, "How do you study, how come you get good grades, and
do you have a secret?" I stared at her straight into her eyes, and for
a second, flashes of episodes consumed my mind with familiar
scenarios. Those days when everybody else enjoyed the leisure of an
exam-free week, I couldn't help but instilled into my will some
milligrams of anxiety which fueled me to open up some few chapters in
our textbooks and read ahead, reading in advance. Those nights when
everybody else couldn't risk some few hours beyond their bedtime, I
couldn't help but fixed myself some cups of hot choco which kept my
eyes wide awake to memorize some pages in the dead silence of the
night. Those moments when everybody else chose to drown themselves in
the addictive lure of computer games, or text-messaging while midterms
grew closer, I couldn't help but prevent myself from the possibility
of cramming the day before a hundred-fifty-item exam which brought my
determination higher and unto less chances of faltering.
When reality pulled me back, I saw her tapping her thumb into the keys
of her cell phone with an expression of kilig coating her whole. She
took advantage of my periodic blank states which she at some point
might have thought it was painstakingly boring or just weirdly eerie.
I snatched her cell phone and held it, examined it for a few seconds
and heaved something halfway between a sigh and a smirk. "You know
what? I just don't get distracted a lot." She took her cell phone from
my grip and giggled in reply, I wondered if she understood what I
meant.
Goals, dreams, ambitions, everybody has them. Maslow clearly stated in
his hierarchy of needs that man, after filling up to his
physiological, psycho-social, and aesthetic needs must come face to
face in realizing his self actualization needs: to find fulfillment
and realize one's potential. I and the rest of mankind certainly agree
with Mr. Maslow, we all wanted to be Einsteins, Roosevelts, or
Spinozas in our own accord. But why is it that only less people get to
reach the highest level of self actualization in Maslow's ladder?
Maslow conducted a study to a population of college students and found
out that what he believes to be the self-actualizers made up only 1%
of the population.
This 1% may either have practiced the ideal behaviors or simply didn't
succumb to distractions. The thought of being distracted primarily
focuses on the youth's struggle of graduating from a degree with all
the luring temptations of today's morally-shaken society. Some would
attest that intimate relationships and commitments before getting a
stable job or at least graduate may be a strong distraction. Every
time your sweetheart would get on your nerves and end up with you two
in a cold misunderstanding, you can't deny but get awfully distracted
in your studies or even your very outlook from day to day. Some would
claim that addiction to computer games or internet surfing, staying
more than five hours hooked into the monitor screen could allow you to
withhold studying for tomorrow's exam. You could not avoid the growing
urge to finish up one level or destroy all known two dimensional
enemies. You could not help but submit to the vain desire to pimp-up
your space in a dating site or chat your several hours with some
person whom you barely even know. Distractions come in different
forms, and just as goals, dreams and ambitions do, everybody has them.
I got my own share of distractions. I'm addicted to television
programs, and if given the chance, I wouldn't dare to miss even a
single episode of some crime-solving, disease-diagnosing dramas. There
was a time when it was already the season finale of the program, but I
have an upcoming exam to study for. For some minutes I was in a state
of delirium, not knowing what to satisfy first, my wants or my
possibility of graduating. Then, after some minutes of regression and
self-awakening, I chose to sit in a corner and goggle my eyes over my
huge textbook. I could wait for a couple of weeks for the replay.
Distractions are distractions if you let them. Computers remain as
computers, helpful to communication and convenient research; they only
become distractive when the person using them let them be.
Relationships are relationships, intimate and securing; they only
become distractive if the lovers let them be. I am certain we all have
the capacity to postpone our urges, desires and addiction. We have the
will and rational thought to choose, to modify, and to prioritize. We
have to power to set limits and thus keeping us safe from these
monsters of distraction.
Distracted?
Only if you let them be.
By: Maria Reylan M. Garcia
A classmate who just got a near-failing grade in one of our hourly
exams asked me, "How do you study, how come you get good grades, and
do you have a secret?" I stared at her straight into her eyes, and for
a second, flashes of episodes consumed my mind with familiar
scenarios. Those days when everybody else enjoyed the leisure of an
exam-free week, I couldn't help but instilled into my will some
milligrams of anxiety which fueled me to open up some few chapters in
our textbooks and read ahead, reading in advance. Those nights when
everybody else couldn't risk some few hours beyond their bedtime, I
couldn't help but fixed myself some cups of hot choco which kept my
eyes wide awake to memorize some pages in the dead silence of the
night. Those moments when everybody else chose to drown themselves in
the addictive lure of computer games, or text-messaging while midterms
grew closer, I couldn't help but prevent myself from the possibility
of cramming the day before a hundred-fifty-item exam which brought my
determination higher and unto less chances of faltering.
When reality pulled me back, I saw her tapping her thumb into the keys
of her cell phone with an expression of kilig coating her whole. She
took advantage of my periodic blank states which she at some point
might have thought it was painstakingly boring or just weirdly eerie.
I snatched her cell phone and held it, examined it for a few seconds
and heaved something halfway between a sigh and a smirk. "You know
what? I just don't get distracted a lot." She took her cell phone from
my grip and giggled in reply, I wondered if she understood what I
meant.
Goals, dreams, ambitions, everybody has them. Maslow clearly stated in
his hierarchy of needs that man, after filling up to his
physiological, psycho-social, and aesthetic needs must come face to
face in realizing his self actualization needs: to find fulfillment
and realize one's potential. I and the rest of mankind certainly agree
with Mr. Maslow, we all wanted to be Einsteins, Roosevelts, or
Spinozas in our own accord. But why is it that only less people get to
reach the highest level of self actualization in Maslow's ladder?
Maslow conducted a study to a population of college students and found
out that what he believes to be the self-actualizers made up only 1%
of the population.
This 1% may either have practiced the ideal behaviors or simply didn't
succumb to distractions. The thought of being distracted primarily
focuses on the youth's struggle of graduating from a degree with all
the luring temptations of today's morally-shaken society. Some would
attest that intimate relationships and commitments before getting a
stable job or at least graduate may be a strong distraction. Every
time your sweetheart would get on your nerves and end up with you two
in a cold misunderstanding, you can't deny but get awfully distracted
in your studies or even your very outlook from day to day. Some would
claim that addiction to computer games or internet surfing, staying
more than five hours hooked into the monitor screen could allow you to
withhold studying for tomorrow's exam. You could not avoid the growing
urge to finish up one level or destroy all known two dimensional
enemies. You could not help but submit to the vain desire to pimp-up
your space in a dating site or chat your several hours with some
person whom you barely even know. Distractions come in different
forms, and just as goals, dreams and ambitions do, everybody has them.
I got my own share of distractions. I'm addicted to television
programs, and if given the chance, I wouldn't dare to miss even a
single episode of some crime-solving, disease-diagnosing dramas. There
was a time when it was already the season finale of the program, but I
have an upcoming exam to study for. For some minutes I was in a state
of delirium, not knowing what to satisfy first, my wants or my
possibility of graduating. Then, after some minutes of regression and
self-awakening, I chose to sit in a corner and goggle my eyes over my
huge textbook. I could wait for a couple of weeks for the replay.
Distractions are distractions if you let them. Computers remain as
computers, helpful to communication and convenient research; they only
become distractive when the person using them let them be.
Relationships are relationships, intimate and securing; they only
become distractive if the lovers let them be. I am certain we all have
the capacity to postpone our urges, desires and addiction. We have the
will and rational thought to choose, to modify, and to prioritize. We
have to power to set limits and thus keeping us safe from these
monsters of distraction.
Distracted?
Only if you let them be.
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