Where Your Attention Is, Your Heart Will Also Be

Katherine and I had one of our book project meetings last night.  We looked at our things-to-do list for the upcoming weeks.  It was so depressing and oppressive  that we’ve decided to forgo our business meeting for next week and just go out to dinner.  We needed to reconnect with each other instead.

With time becoming such a limited resource for both of us, when we do manage to get together, all we do is work on these book projects.  The frustrations and monotonous work of making our dream come true has pushed our friendship into a fragile spot — into a corner void of the connection, attention, and caring that were once so ingrained in our friendship and so precious to us.  Somewhere along the way, those precious gifts were misplaced, and it’s time to regain them again.

I’m glad Katherine suggested this idea of going out.  We haven’t gone out for the longest time.  We haven’t laughed together for the longest time.  We haven’t really talked to each other for the longest time.  There just wasn’t any time…

Well, no… that’s not true…  There is always 24 hours in a day.  It’s just that we were choosing to spend our time elsewhere.  We were constantly placing our time and attention somewhere else.

It’s hard to admit, but we can go through life taking our friends for granted, to the point that we don’t see them anymore.  We figure that they will always be there; they will understand.  After all, they are our friends.  We’re so busy multitasking our lives away that we can no longer focus on one thing at a time — or one person at a time. 

With so many people and things fighting for our attention, we forget that we must choose who gets our attention and for how long.  If we don’t focus and limit ourselves, then our attention is spread so thin and in so many directions that nothing is accomplished and no one is satisfied.  We end up failing ourselves and failing those we care about the most.

Yes, it's time for Katherine and me to spend more time working on our friendship than on becoming published. 

After all, if we lose our friendship along the way, our dream will never come true.

Our dream only exists through our friendship.



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