Distracted from Activism
how to be productive when you are distracted
Monday morning. Vacation complete. Bags unpacked. Refreshed. Looking at the ‘to do’ list for work with creativity and energy, excited and enthusiastic to dig into some big new projects.
And then I found out that one of my loved ones is about to experience a Level 4 typhoon. Thankfully not the eye of the storm, but less than 200 miles from the eye, and said loved one is staying on a small, low-lying island with nothing but a lot of ocean to slow the path of the typhoon.
Needless to say I am distracted.
Rather than delving into my big project, I became distracted by details of something I can’t control. The island is 85.92 square miles. The highest point is 1,724 feet. Waves are expected to be 10-14 feet. I know the projected path of the typhoon and the forecasted impact. Having worked in drowning prevention for 15 years, I understand the force of water and the destruction of violent storms. Needless to say, this does not help my piece of mind.
I did follow through on what I can control. Advice about getting in bottled water and a flashlight. Talking through safety protocols.
And now we wait. Tomorrow, or the next day, after the typhoon has passed and I know my loved one is safe, I’ll be able to delve into work with a clear mind. But not today.
Life is like that sometimes. As Scottish poet, Robert Burns wrote, “The best laid schemes o’mice an’ men/Gang aft a-gley”. Or in plain English, the best laid plans of mice and men so often go astray.
Life as an activist will always be subject to distractions.
Sometimes the distractions are best categorized as ‘life’. Your basement floods. Your cat is sick. Children’s schedules. Hours on the phone with ‘customer service’. Celebrating a milestone with a friend. Being there for someone in crisis. Caregiving. You got sick.
Sometimes distractions are intentionally engineered. The culture wars. Bait-and-switch to divert from real issues. The endless political lying, posturing, and fabricated outrage. Small fires continually being started to distract from the huge ‘elephant in the room’ fire. Like not focusing on climate change, which is accelerating and creating more violent typhoons, fires, heat waves, tornadoes, hurricanes, the collapse of the Atlantic Ocean current, and a 46,000 year old worm brought back to life from thawing permafrost. Or completely ignoring the system that keeps the rapidly accelerating, historically unprecedented level of wealth inequality in place, which we know destabilizes society. Not to mention those same super-rich contribute far more to emissions than the bottom-earning half of the world’s population.
So how do you cope with distractions?
Whether it’s ‘life’ or ‘engineered’ distractions, your response should be the same.
First, assess whether it’s a true emergency. In First Aid, ‘emergency is defined as bleeding, no pulse, or loss of consciousness. Deal with true emergencies immediately. The rest, triage. What needs to be done now? What do you have control over? Is this distraction your problem, or someone else’s? Is it an intentionally engineered distraction? If it’s intentionally engineered, what is their goal? Why and how are they trying to distract you?
Be brutal. If an engineered distraction is designed to put you off track, always, always, always return back to the main point. For example, your focus is commonsense gun laws. To every attempt to distract, one brief phrase to address the distraction, and then, ‘but the real issue is the need to pass commonsense gun laws.’
Know your talking points, the key goals you have as an activist, and never be distracted beyond the length of time it takes to triage and readjust, as needed.
For personal distractions, take it easy on yourself. When you are worried, afraid, stressed out, you can’t be an effective activist, so deal with the personal distractions and commit to getting back in the activist game as soon as possible.
Social change requires a long-term perspective. It’s a marathon, not a sprint. Deal with the distractions efficiently and quickly - and get right back to being the effective activist you are.