When Reality Intrudes

As a writer, I like to spend at least half of my time in a world of fiction. Either I am creating it or reading someone else's creations. So maybe I spend more than half my time there. There have been times in my life where I have escaped into a world of fiction almost to the exclusion of reality. Like when I played tetris for 22 hours one day in high school (Thanks to my big brother for the challenge.)

Those stints into the world of make believe can't be sustained though. Eventually reality intrudes in the form of a concerned parent, bills that must be paid, children that must be cared for, or that inner voice that nags at me to tell me that I am not doing all the things I should be doing. Now that I have begun to channel that need for an escape into creating novels and other stuff, that voice inside is less naggy because I have something to show for my distraction. But I digress. Here is the thing that I'm thinking about today...if reality is intruding on my day, then maybe I should get better acquainted with it.

I have to give a lesson today taken from a talk by Elder David A. Bednar about "Things As They Really Are." So I've worked harder this week to pay attention to the reality of my life and WOW is it a downer. LOL. Reality is hard sometimes, but then again I have also seen some amazing things that I otherwise would have missed. The best thing so far was watching my boys play at the park and instead of reading my book, which I of course had taken with me to stave off the boredom of being in the sunshine on a beautiful day (add sarcasm here.) I watched my boys run around and giggle and become better friends. (they are 8 and 3 years old) The feeling of simple joy, love and parental pride in that moment was worth many hours of the more difficult realities. I'm so glad my eyes were on them and my ears were not attached to my cell phone, because then I would have missed the giggling.
Thanks to Elder Bednar for the reminder to see things as they really are and to spend more time in reality and less time blogging and talking on the phone. (Not that there is anything wrong with blogging..."all things in moderation")