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Multi-tasking

 Hi, I'm Sharon, and I am a multi-tasker.

And I am proud of it.

I am proud of the fact that I think my brain can handle two or more tasks at the same time.

I can be making my coffee in the morning, then part way through go and clean out the cat litter, then in the middle of doing that I can put the recycling out into the garage.

I am amazed at how my brain can happily tangent to another thought and chore and carry on as though it hadn't missed a beat.

I am enthralled by the way I can have a thought, then put that on pause, then entertain another thought, and then another.

I must be getting smarter as I get older.

More intelligent in my years.

More wise in my aging.

How can this be?

Am I a medical miracle?

Perhaps I should enroll in a study of some sort.

Surely this will stave off dementia and age related memory loss, no?

As I marvel at the medical miracle that I appear to be becoming, I notice my reading glasses are on the dining room table.

When did I put them there?

Oh yes, that's right, I had taken them off my head when I went out to water the potted plants on the back deck.

And then I notice that my empty cereal bowl is on my dresser in the bedroom.

What is that doing there?

Oh yes, that's right, I had put it there for a moment while I refilled the cat's water bowl in the ensuite.

And it is then that I see that my cell phone is on the deacon's bench in the foyer.

That is definitely not where it is supposed to be!

Oh yes, I remember now; I put it there when I was getting ready to go for a walk but then went to go and feed the fish.

Oh dear.

It may be that my joy in discovering what a fabulous multi-tasker I am is being diminished by the fact that I am not completing all of those tasks.

It seems I am only partly completing some of those tasks - and not finishing any of them.

What is that saying, a jack of all trades and master of none?

Well, it seems I am the jill of all tasks and completer of zero.

And now I know how those "senior moments" come about.

All well intentioned tasks that get started but then somehow get waylaid when something else pops into the picture.

Easily said and done!

But then I stumbled across an article the other day about how to help stave off those "senior moments" and memory loss and even dementia.

And what do you know?

It said we need to focus on doing one thing, and one thing only.

To really be mindful about that one task, that one chore, that one errand.

To follow it through to completion, and concentrate, concentrate, concentrate.

It is only then, the article said, that we can know for sure that we have completed a task thoroughly, from beginning to end.

And not only that, it will stick in our minds that we have done it.

There is more of a chance that we will remember it.

That it will adhere to our grey matter and engrave itself into our memory.

Who would have thunk that?!

Well, not me.

I was only to happy to be able to boast that I can do ten things at once and then some!

But as it turns out, apparently I can't.

I am like the rest of all of us mere mortals whose brain can only go so far.

And as we head down into the abyss of mortality, our brains need all the help they can get.

And so from now on, I have to remember to only do one thing, to concentrate on one task at a time, to abandon the idea that I am a multi-tasker extraordinaire.

For clearly I am not.

Somewhere along the way I am depositing my reading glasses, leaving behind my cereal bowl, and forgetting my cell phone in all the wrong places.

That is doing nothing for my OCD, because as anyone who knows me knows, I like to have a place for everything and everything in its place.

As proud as I was for jumping from one task to another, in order not to forget to do that other task, it appears that somewhere along the way I was forgetting something.

Like forgetting to completely finish the first task.

Leaving behind a clear calling card, in the form of a misplaced item, that I had neglected to completely follow through on the first task.

I may be congratulating myself for thinking of something else to do while I was already doing something, but clearly something was getting lost in the translation.

Oh, the irony!

From now on, I will try to promise to stick to one task at a time.

To follow it through to completion.

And to try to remember to do so.

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