My Wandering MindSidetracked Sisters

I have this habit of not focusing. This results in not listening or reading instructions and I would like to correct this habit.

Have you ever tried to sew an evening dress or skirt without reading the directions? Well, I have done this and I must say it does work out, but not without a few problems that could have been eliminated had I read the instructions.

I find that when learning a new card game when it is being explained I just sort of glaze over. I don’t know what causes this, but it is really annoying to the other participants. When they are done explaining I actually realize I haven’t paid attention at all. This is even frustrating to me.

I have sewn, as I said, before, evening dresses, skirts, put-together typewriters, and anything that needs me to read the instructions without actually reading the instructions. Somehow I have been able to accomplish this, but it probably takes me a little longer than most.

Now, this came to bite me in the butt when I was trying to teach my granddaughter how to read pattern instructions for a special skirt that she was making. Finally, I just gave up and called my sister who reads instructions to the tee. She was able to explain the correct way to set the pattern pieces and some ideas on how to properly get the item to fit. As it ended my granddaughter decided she would rather sew without any instructions, just winging it. Now, this sounds like something I would do, but it does help to have a good foundation on how to do things such as sewing from the beginning.

I find that if something is not really, really interesting to me I just sort of zone out, thinking about anything but what I am supposed to be focusing on. Or if there is another conversation going on in the room I will probably be listening to that instead of what I was supposed to be doing.

I really need to work on paying attention as it could eliminate a lot of frustration to those poor souls that are trying to teach me a new activity such as card games, board games, etc.

I don’t know if it is possible at this old age to correct this, but I guess it is worth a try as long as I don’t have to read any instructions to do this!