Changing frames

On Sundays I go over the previous week and figure out what I want to accomplish in the upcoming week.

I always have lots to do, and I do not always estimate how long some things will take. This can be a source of frustration.

Last week I got more done than usual. I hoped it signaled turning a corner and getting better at this.

That is not how it worked out.

One thing I had not gotten done was this assignment for school that was just taking forever. It involved fifty definitions and open questions, going over design process models, learning approaches, and psychological philosophies related to learning. I didn't think it would be fast, but I had to keep adjusting my expectations.

I haven't officially gone over this week yet, but it feels like completing the paper is the only thing I accomplished this week. I can probably still finish a book and send a friend e-mail, but it's going to look pretty weak by comparison.

Fortunately, there were some interesting thoughts on weakness in Sunday school last week.

We were talking about Ether 12:27

And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them.

Brother Taylor, who works in mental health, said that he often has to help people reframe how they think. It is common to interpret it as us overcoming the weakness. For example, we are impatient, so we work on that and eventually we become patient. Maybe instead we learn to use impatience as a strength, like maybe we are impatient with injustice.

Right before he said that I had been thinking about how some people channel their ADHD. It was an interesting way of looking at it.

One thing that has often seemed to be a weakness for me is that sometimes I just can't settle down when I need to focus. I often relate it to procrastination, but there are things I suddenly have to look up, or check on, and getting down to the task at hand is very difficult.

(This was on my mind more because of the assignment.) 

Another thing I have thought of as a weakness is that when I am on task for something, I have a hard time reacting to interruptions. This is often more social, where I have in mind someone that I need to talk to about something, or even an errand in a store, and un unplanned social interaction presents itself and I have a hard time switching into that mode and conversing. I have thought of this more as social awkwardness.

Maybe, though, my focus can be very good, and my remembering and being interested in many things can be very good, as long as I can get them to play nicely with each other.

Maybe they won't even be weaknesses if they can learn to take turns. 

There aren't strong conclusions to be drawn here, but what I hope this does contain is encouragement to think positively about your own quirks and hope that there can be good ways of harnessing them.

If we harness our powers against injustice, so much the better.