Isn't it Ironic...

As I sat in class today, finishing the in-class essay that I'd been preparing for the past week, a song came in mind. This doesn't often happen to me, especially in class, but today it was very appropriate. I was writing an essay on the allegory of "The Lady of Shalott." The poem depicts a young lady who is alone in a tower, on an island, overlooking a "highway" which leads to Camelot. She sings day in and day out and she's a mystery to the reapers and the travelers on the highway. She weaves her tapestry all the time, and looks at the shadows of the town through her mirror that she uses to weave. Lancelot, a handsome prince, rode along the highway and caught her attention. This was the last straw. She had to leave the tower, which activated the curse. She laid in a boat, with "Lady of Shalott" written on the side, and as she floated to the shore where the admirers would find her in the boat, she sang her song and died silently.

The allegory of the poem says that she is the artist who lets the distractions seduce her away from her work and she (along with her creative spirit) dies. The world doesn't care; artists are easy to come by. She let the distractions of the world take her away from the thing that was most important in her life, and it killed her.

Now, the meaning that I got from this poem is even non-artists can be affected by distractions of the everyday life. The people of the 1800's (Victorian Age) faced a booming society, the industrial age in Europe. The hustle and bustle of everyday life was becoming more and more like the insanity that most people face today. I know that I have personally let the distractions of everyday life come between me and the things that I love.

A lady at church once told me something that I already knew was true. She said that I must make time for myself because nobody else is required to. To grow to be healthy and wise, you must make time for yourself and get away from all of the distractions that you face on a regular basis.

My loves: learning, being with friends, sitting outside, watching animals (squirrels and birds), being with loved ones, being in nature, closing my eyes and feeling the sunshine on my face, riding down the old dirt road with the windows down and the music turned up high, taking a mid-day nap, snuggling with my teddy bear, enjoying the things that I learn in class, and simply relaxing, enjoying the here and the now and the people who are around me and the present. I enjoy reading and having conversations over a cup of coffee.

My distractions: the need to pound 5 tons of information into my brain that can only comfortably hold 5 pounds of information, being angry with those around me, frustration with stupid things, and looking at the future and the past rather than the here and the now.

Isn't it ironic that the same thing that is distracting me (the paper I was writing) is the same thing that made me come to this conclusion?

I believe that we all get caught up with the distractions in life, and that's why we all love to have new beginnings. We all enjoy a fresh start at the new year. At the beginning of the year I listed my new years resolutions, and while I'm "sort-of" keeping my word, I'm not doing everything that I can to accomplish these things. I know I'm a bit of a work-a-holic, but I know what I need to do to make things better for my future. Unfortunately, I also know that I'm deceiving myself when I make this excuse since I know that's one of my primary distractions in life.

What's the solution? I know it's extremely silly to have to "pencil-in" time for myself on my schedule that I make for myself everyday, but I'm afraid that's what it's going to have to come down to.

Here's my fresh start.... when's the next one? We will see....