METTLE MAKER #513: Jealousy of attention

Rough ‘n’ Tumblers, guard most jealousy thine attention.

Old-timers didn’t have nearly as many distractions as we do today. The modern tendency is toward “spectatoritis” – that is, to suffer from the disease of being observers, viewers, and surfers instead of doers. The rise of the world wide web and social media have turned distraction from a small problem into a passtime.

Swim upstream as hard as you can.

never substitute transactions for experiences

Paying attention is like paying into your 401K. Dividends are huge.

Try this simple exercise: Make a paper grocery list. Why? Because if you make a list on your cell phone, every time you check it you’re going to see an alert, notification, email, text message, or whatever. And that means that you’ll end up being glued to the phone for the entire trip instead of paying attention to your environment and actually shopping. You’ll get done faster, enjoy the trip more, be more aware of threats, and perhaps even have some enriching interactions with actual people. If your nose is in your phone, you might not spot your co-worker or neighbor on the canned food aisle, or spot Jennifer, your favorite cashier, or Michael, the college-bound produce guy.

Could you have the groceries delivered? Of course. But if you simply pay for groceries in order to get something to eat, you have put a transaction in place of an experience. If you shop, you don’t just pay money – you pay attention – and you get more than just food. You get engagement, enrichment, exercise, social interaction, and increased safety through situational awareness.

Carry this mindset into every aspect of your life. Ask yourself if other daily tasks could be air-gapped from the world wide web. And if they can, make it happen.

You’ll be glad you did.

Want more American Rough ‘n’ Tumble goodness? Click here to sign up today for our distance learning program!

Sacred Reading for Sunday, 8/23/26

Click here to sign up for daily motivational text messages!

...

Click here to sign up for daily motivational text messages! ...

Divine Reading (“Lectio Divina”) of sacred scripture is an ancient way to interact with the Bible. Its four elements are reading, meditation, contemplation, and prayer. CLICK HERE for the Sunday Lectio exercise. To watch daily mass, CLICK HERE. For daily gospel reflections in your email box, SIGN UP HERE.