Distractions Are About Pain
I’m developing a new format for these newsletters, inspired largely by the idea of “Memento Mori” – a Latin phrase which literally means “remember you must die.” It is an ancient practice of reflection on mortality. Death, some says, is what gives life meaning.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Author Nir Eyal claims in his book Indistractable that distractions have less to do with the distractions themselves (e.g. checking your phone constantly, shopping online, Netflix, etc.), and more to do with pain management.
“…distraction is always an unhealthy escape from reality.”
Unless you find the root causes of your distractions, you will always find new ways to distract yourself.
There’s a very interesting line in the opening pages that struck me: “Only by understanding our pain can we begin to control it and find better ways to deal with negative urges.”
This is not a revolutionary idea but there is a universality to it. You aren’t human if you don’t encounter pain & negative urges. It is instinctual to avoid pain, and it has never been easier to find endless means to drown anything even remotely uncomfortable out with more noise.
Encountering negative urges is not a deciding factor between success and failure. That is universal. The patterns that you develop in how you respond to these negative urges, are.
My takeaway here is that deflecting responsibility on someone or something else always ends up making you lose out in the long run. You can avoid dealing with the repercussions of your behavior in the short term but the problem will still be there when you wake up tomorrow morning.
No one else can solve your distraction problem for you.
Thanks for reading!
Nathaniel Drew
