What a day for a daydream

“Ladies and Gentlemen, may I have your attention…”

This piece began as some thoughts on “attention” and wound up as reflections on daydreams. I think I’m a fan of daydreaming.

1 Attention

Attention is a finite commodity. You only have so much attention to give in your life, in your day. Parents want your attention. Brothers and sisters and friends want your attention. Teachers want your attention. Employers want your attention. Politicians want your attention. Social media wants your attention. And, of course, advertisers¹ want your attention (the most literal translation of the Latin roots of the word “advertisers” would be rendered “turn-toward-ers”)

Sometimes there is a reward (punishment) for your attention (in-attention). Sometimes you are just “had” and your money goes away with your attention, never to return.

You never get your attention back once you’ve given it. You can’t create more attention. You can’t save attention. You can waste attention. You can fragment attention. You can destroy attention.

Attention is a precious, irreplaceable commodity. Guard it. Use it wisely.

Which leads to…

2 Daydreams

We say daydreamers are “lost in their own thoughts”. They don’t do the things other people want them to do. They don’t give their attention to things other people think they should give their attention to.

But (some) dreamers change the world.

All men dream: but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dreams with open eyes, to make it possible.

T.E. Lawrence, https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/T._E._Lawrence

Daydreamers are “their own people”. And that bothers people who want them to be somebody else, to pay attention to certain other things.

3 One daydreamer

This may not be “the perfect blog post”. It may not have the perfect structure and flow. It may not end concise advice you can live by and a nice list of actionable items.

I’ve going to end it with a quote from a daydreamer who was torn apart for 40 years by demands on his attention from school teachers, societal norms, family, fans who loved him, people who hated him, the music industry, his band-mates, religious teachers, artists, social causes, politicians, the media and lawyers:

...

People say I'm lazy
Dreaming my life away
Well they give me all kinds of advice
Designed to enlighten me
When I tell them that I'm doing fine watching shadows on the wall
"Don't you miss the big time boy, you're no longer on the ball?"

I'm just sitting here watching the wheels go round and round
I really love to watch them roll
No longer riding on the merry-go-round
I just had to let it go

I just had to let it go

J. Lennon, Father, "house-husband" and bread-maker, 1980

Dream on.

Post 37 of #100DaysToOffload https://100daystooffload.com/