The snow from my last post never actually melted. Instead, it refroze and we got more snow adding up to almost a foot of snow. But that is past and I doubt any more snow will come this year.
Exciting news is that our first kids (baby goats) are here! We now have four bucklings. Two of them are out of our doe Henrietta, and two out another one of our does, Strawberry girl. All four are out of Dublin, the buck. They are really cute!
Here is a picture of one of our previous baby goats, since I do not have pictures of the new kids.
I have a great deal of trouble staying focused. I struggle with staying on top of my schoolwork. Getting on top of my schoolwork is no problem, but staying there is the hardest part. I’d like to share a couple of ways I help myself stay focused.
One big part of helping myself focus is planning. Really it is motivation; and for me, planning is part of motivation. It motivates me to get my schoolwork done if I schedule my school day. For some reason, I cannot get my school done if I don’t have a schedule or plan. Also simply the planning part gets me motivated. While planning I get excited and thus motivated to go on and when school starts I am able to work at it with a will. Another part is that I have to plan it myself or the plan does not motivate me. If it is a case where I need to be following somebody else’s plan I have to make the plan/schedule mine.
Another thing is just working to break through in your focus. Part of focusing is just hard work. For instance when I was younger, I would sit at my desk with a math book in front me and I was said to be doing math. Math was hard for me and the curriculum hard for me to concentrate on. However, instead of working at it until I completed the math page for that day, I would usually just imagine stories in my head or think about what I was doing tomorrow. My math was probably harder for me than for my sister, but once I saw that it was hard I gave up and thus failed to finish my page of math. Once we break through and conquer even with great painstaking efforts, we will improve next time instead of worsening or putting off the battle of concentration.
Sometimes even though I’m working hard and trying to be motivated, my brain feels cluttered and it feels like no matter what I do I cannot pull my thoughts and concentration together. Here are some things that can help in this situation:
- Music: For some people, it works; for other people, it makes it worse. However, I often find that when all else fails, some calm, relaxing classical music or hymns, clear my brain.
- Cluttered surroundings, cluttered brain: Often a cluttered brain is the result of cluttered surroundings. If this is the case, the most efficient thing to do is to get up and clean.
- Switch Subjects/Tasks: Sometimes your brain just needs something else for a little while and needs you to change your subject/task and come back later.
- Take a Break with God: My favorite thing to do when my brain is cluttered and frustrated and I need a break is to go outside. A room alone works as well, but I love going outside because it is usually a change in environment and you are so close to God’s creation. Then for 5-10 minutes I just pray and worship God alone. After the refreshment of God’s presence and love, I am much more fit to go about my work than before.
When all is said and done, we must remember that we are not perfect on this side of heaven, and we just ask God to use us as we are.
I hope this post was encouraging and/or helpful to any readers. I want to encourage you that God love and uses even the unfocused, clutter-brained, and clumsy, just as much as all his beloved children.
“May the Lord answer you in the day of trouble!
May the name of the God of Jacob protect you!”
-Psalms 20:1 (ESV)
Faith on the Farm 