Construct a Distraction | Rabbi Avi Slansky

Have you ever lived through construction? Banging, drilling, dust and dirt everywhere. You realize how difficult it is to live? Let alone concentrate in such an environment. But if you ever lived in an apartment building, with the family on top of you doing construction? It's that much more difficult. And if you lived in that scenario in Eretz Yisroel, where the workers start at 6 a.m. drilling, hammering, banging, pounding all day, It's literally unbearable. You can't hear yourself think! Let alone talk, let alone concentrate. And I was in such a scenario. And I was trying to cope and deal and - what could I do? And I tried putting on music and I tried doing this and nothing worked. But then I made the music a little bit louder, and I occupied myself with something. And over some time, what happened was I got distracted by whatever I was doing, and the music was loud enough that all I sort of heard was the music, and the banging and the drilling became nothing more than just background noise. There are times that temptations to look somewhere seem impossible. It's blaring, it's banging! There's drilling! And we feel like, how could I not do that? How can I not look there? How can I not do that? At times, the answer is - put on some music, something else, start diverting your attention and make yourself occupied with something, before you dive in, before you click, just walk away from the computer, put on some music and start doing something else. And as we slowly occupy our minds and our brains, what happens is slowly the temptation subsides, as we get sucked into the action that we're doing, the music that we're listening to. So the next time it seems insurmountable, quickly, turn on some other music, walk away, get involved in something else, and you'll realize within a few short moments how all you're going to be busy with is that something else with some beautiful music. Yes, there will still be that buzz in the background. The temptation is still going to be there, but slowly it will subside.