To reverse my devolution from Homo Sapiens Sapiens into a Homo Distractus1, I’m going to run a little experiment: I’m going to stare at a point on a white wall for an hour every day for 30 days2.
The setup is simple: mark a dot on the wall3, set a kitchen timer for 60 minutes, and sit down. To make things a bit more interesting, I placed the kitchen timer behind me.
I just had my first session, and let me tell you: 60 minutes can feel very long, especially when you don’t know when they are over. I tried to sit as still as possible, but I had to change my posture a couple of times. This is supposed to be primarily a mental challenge, not a physical one. I also tried my best not to fidget around and avoided scratching any itches.
When my mind wasn’t busy digging up memories of deranged posts I read on 4chan decades ago, the point started dancing around in front of my eyes. Sometimes, the point would split into two, before I managed regain my focus. Sounds of playing children finding their way to my ears from a nearby playground were a welcome distraction. At some point, a heavy drowsiness fell over me, and simply keeping my eyes open became difficult enough.
A beep from my kitchen timer one minute before the time was up sent a tingling sensation through my whole body. Afterwards, I did not succumb to the temptation to crawl into bed and embrace that drowsiness.
Instead, I followed another thought that had crossed my mind: to document the experience.
Foot notes
1 I did come up with this term during the session, but apparently I wasn’t the first one, because a book with this title crowdfunded and published in 2018.
2 I’m signed up for a Backyard Ultra on July 31st, will be the final day of this challenge. Let’s see if this practice gives me energy or drains it. If it’s the latter, I might cut the experiment one day short.
3 The attentive observer will notice that I’m actually looking at a door, but you get the idea.