Embracing my distractions

and a recipe for avocado bread that couldn’t be easier

Keeping it simple is often an ever-receding goal.

As much as I want to live an uncomplicated life, my actions get in the way of my best intentions. There’s the little matter of the calculus of time. If I think something will take 30 minutes, it’s as likely to take 45, or slip into an hour. And as I get older, the bright shiny objects of distraction seem to be multiplying instead of diminishing.

It’s the curious mind’s conundrum.

True to type

Or so I tell myself. If I’m completely honest, the thing that causes my mind to wander onto a new task before the first is halfway done sometimes boils downs to simple boredom. The devil is in the details, and I’m usually not that anxious to meet up with him.

I’m quick to point out that I’m an ENTP. That’s an extroverted, intuitive, thinking prospector. While some of my defining characteristics are the ability to think quickly and analyze problems creatively from every angle, I can also find it difficult to focus and I dislike practical matters. Translation? I can extract issues to the finest point detail in a problem, but don’t ask me to write the step by step plan to implement the solution. I live in the macro, and the view from up here is a rarefied air indeed.

Take yesterday. There were a few tasks around the house that needed doing, most of them started by me at some point but not completed. Bathroom cabinets to be reorganized; a box to be brought down to our storage locker; a newsletter post to write 😉. That was between getting my hair done and grocery shopping. While I can report that all was done, it might not have been in a linear fashion, or even by yesterday. You’ll be getting this newsletter soon, I promise.

Your mind is like a parachute; it doesn't work if it's not open.

—Frank Zappa

The dangers of a constantly active mind may well be the distractions that fill it. Sifting and winnowing out the unimportant from the essential is a talent and a gift.

It can also cause disruption around me. While I’m perfectly happy flitting from one idea, task, thought or creative notion to another, all within the space a minute, I realize that those around me might find that just plain exhausting.

As my much more grounded husband tells me, it’s a balancing act. Getting the scales just right may not be something I’ll ever master. Still, with my learner’s mind, I’ll keep trying. And hopefully get some stuff done along the way.

Avocado bread

by way of my friend Pam

I’m not quite sure of the origin of this recipe: TikTok, Instagram, or some other such source. All I know is that my friend Pam swears by the ease and deliciousness of this uber-simple three ingredient “bread”. One thing’s for certain: with such a short ingredient list, one bowl and one instruction, even I can’t get distracted halfway through. Plus it packs a protein punch that’s a perfect mid day snack.

Note: The bread will take on the flavour characteristics of whatever cheese you use, but don’t let that stop you from embellishing with other flavours you might like. Avocado bread can be a bit zingy with a pinch of chili flakes, a touch Middle Eastern with za’atar, or reminiscent of your breakfast bagel with everything on spice sprinkled atop. I finished mine with more avocado and chopped sun-dried tomatoes.

Any way you slice it, it’s a perfect little bite to keep you going, no matter what you have on the go.

Method

Heat oven to 400F. Mash one ripe medium avocado in a small bowl. Add 1 egg and 1 cup shredded cheese of your choice. On a piece of parchment paper or Silpat, divide mixture into four equal mounds and flatten slightly with your hand. Bake for 30 minutes, cool and nosh at will.