I had such great intentions of posting the third article in my current blog series on taking risks in business, “Diving Deep:  Learning New Skills” by now.  See, I even have a catchy title. But you know what? Sometimes life happens, and this week, life has definitely happened.

Here are some of the diversions that have kept me from pounding out the blog. I bet you can relate to some of them:

• The end of the school year. We homeschool, so I didn’t think this would really be that big of a transition. Guess what? I was wrong. The time that Lexi and Clay would have normally spent on schoolwork is now free. The last few mornings here have now sounded something like this:

                  “Mom, what’s for breakfast?”
                  “Mom, can you braid my hair?”
                  “Mom, what are we doing today?”
                  “Mom, are we going anywhere today?”
                  “Mom, what’s for lunch?”
                  “Mom, where’s my softball t-shirt?”
                  “Mom, do you want to play Lego battles?”

                  I love them so much. I also cannot hear myself think.

                  I tried going into another room. They followed me. I tried looking really
busy so they’d know I didn’t want to be interrupted. They watched what I was doing over my shoulder. I tried hiding in my room with my laptop. They found me. Welcome to summer, folks.

• The kitchen floor. Normally the kitchen floor would not effect my work at all. It’s just there, being a kitchen floor. However, at 9:36 a.m. on Tuesday, husband declared that it was officially Install the New Kitchen Floor Day. It had to happen sooner or later, and I’m glad it was sooner. Also, I love it. But not a whole lot of work gets done when you’re on your hands and knees snapping together vinyl plank.

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• Weeds. Yes, weeds. Gardening is my main hobby this time of year. I love growing food. Then I love putting it in jars, stacking it on a shelf, and standing back and admiring it. But that’s another blog post for another day. The problem with gardening and growing food is that the food plants are not the only things that grow – there are also weeds. Here in Iowa, there are a lot of weeds. Iowa grows weeds well. Because too many weeds seriously affects the growing of the food and the putting of the food in jars and the standing back and admiring of it, I have to pull the weeds. Circle of life. It’s all connected people.

So those were fun diversions from the norm. Then there were the distractions – the things that you don’t necessarily have to deal with right this minute. For me, once the diversions get me off track, the distractions seem a lot more attractive. Things like:

• Laundry. Because clean clothes are nice.
• Brushing the dog.
• Cleaning out the laptop keyboard.
• Trying to decide what color nail polish to use next on my toes.
• Watching the College Softball World Series.
• Flossing.

Do you know what I mean? Please tell me I’m not the only one this happens to.

It’s not all bad though. Sometimes I think our brains just need a break. We need the comfort of the mundane, the normal, the day-to-day. Last week was super stressful. I can’t handle that kind of stress all the time, and my brain knows it.

I’d love to hear what you do to decompress after a rough week, or the ways you get off on a rabbit trail when you need to be focused. Rest assured you’re not alone.

Now excuse me while I go clean out my purse . . . .