Lost in space - ?

I wake up leisurely... thinking of things I want to write about. I crawl out from under the covers and throw on a cozy sweater…  eager to get started.

Wait…   So how am I suddenly wandering around amid a forest of incoming messages from somebody somewhere out there in cyber space?

Yep, it happened again.

...

I really like to write first thing in the morning while I am fresh and focused.  Here I am a retiree who doesn’t have to punch a time clock.  I love and appreciate my wonderfully flexible schedule.  So why would I squander those precious first minutes of the day?

I made that decision awhile ago…  and I have built that habit.  I’ve chosen to cherish the privilege of being able to write first thing in the morning.  As a general practice, I arrange my schedule around that priority of writing first thing in the morning.

So why do I still find myself wandering in the cyber jungle some mornings?  Somehow it sneaks up on me... but I am not ready to give in to it.   I need to discover the malfunction.  The leak.  What isn’t working…

So I pay attention. When I discover that I’m lost in cyber space again, I try to notice how I got there.

- How is the world is sneaking in?

- Did I leave some window open last night? 

- Some tab? Some website that calls to me this morning?

Author Andi Cumbo tells of a teacher from years earlier, Sharman Apt Russell, who said, “I write before the world intrudes.”  Like many of us, that teacher prioritized her writing before any of the other “first things” of the morning.  Cumbo adopted that philosophy at the time and remembers how it got her through grad school.  However she has recently realized that "first thing in the day" can get too vague, too general. Too squishy. She decided to reclaim that specific sentiment once again...

“I write before the world intrudes.”

I kinda’ love the phrase - partly because it helps me visualize the world out there as a monster waiting to sneak into my space.  To invade my privacy in those precious personal moments before putting on my space suit and stepping into the day.

…

Intrusion is the action of intruding. 

To intrude is to put oneself deliberately into a place or situation where one is unwelcome or uninvited.  

There is indeed a whole world of all kinds of stuff out there ready to intrude into my private space.

…

No one else is going to guard my personal private space capsule.  

It is up to me.

I am the one who must figure out the leaks and repair the malfunctions.

I am the one with the power to keep things tight.

And so I shall.

I might even employ some mixed metaphors now and then... if they prove to be effective.  Whatever it takes. Because it is important to me to cherish the time - before the world intrudes.

Seriously.