"Where your attention goes, your energy follows." This mantra was given to me by a friend a long time ago. And, to be honest, I'm thinking of getting it tattooed, just like I did with "One Day at a Time" (but we'll talk about that later). "Where your attention goes, your energy goes" is the phrase that jolts my mind every time I get distracted or lose focus of what I want.

It is something that I would have liked to cultivate more since much earlier, because although the 20s are to know yourself and make mistakes, it was where I was very distracted from my purpose, from my talents, in fact I did not believe them because I thought it would be enough with what I was studying and living socially, somehow I belonged and was part of a group, although I did not feel completely well, I was comfortable.

To my youngest Afrika I would like to say: everything passes, duels are part of life, in fact, they are a constant. We do not die, we are already here. We have the attention and energy, increasing the concentration on living our talents. Thank you because in spite of all the distractions: people, alcohol, economic crisis, etc, you always chose a moment to look into what today keeps us on our feet, for now of soul and soon of everything.

Today I will tell you how I have been recovering my concentration and I have given more time to my professional, work and personal purpose. I'm not discovering warm water, I just want to share with you what has worked for me. I know how difficult it is to feel trapped in the hamster wheel, spinning endlessly, tired, bored and even afraid of the new, or of leaving behind people and "comforts".

First, I understood the hard way (chimba, in Venezuelan) that no one is as interested as I am in achieving my personal goal X. So, whatever you want, do it by and for you. There will be people who will accompany you, but it will be later and according to what you have invested in that goal.

• Atención: es el proceso de seleccionar y enfocarse en lo “relevante”.

• Energía: es la capacidad de realizar una acción.

• Concentración: es la acción voluntaria de centrar tu atención en un objetivo determinado.

Second, I turned the phrase into a formula and set it as a wallpaper. I'll go over the definitions, but then delve into them for yourself:

Attention: is the process of selecting and focusing on what is "relevant".
Energy: is the ability to perform an action.
Concentration: is the voluntary action of focusing your attention on a particular goal.

But here comes another important factor: time. What happened to all or most of us, I wasted it endlessly on social networks, supposedly "resting" or "looking for inspiration". I also fell into the syndrome of the impostor disguised as the eternal student, enrolling in one course after another without having finished the previous one, and leaving aside my goal: campaign, fabric dolls, blog (if you know me, you know the crafts I do; and if you are new, I do those things). Not to mention all the therapies I've tried, but that's a topic for another post.

Another thing, I used to be a morning person; first thing in the morning I was active and, when I wasn't in the cell phone era, I managed to do several activities during the day. That was also possible because I had a fixed schedule. So what did I do? I went to ChatGPT, my best friend now, explained everything to him and together we made a schedule. Everything was going well up to that point, but my first minutes of the day were still poorly spent: social networks, conversations full of discomfort and complaints. Nothing to do with my goal: to feel good, at least in balance during the day.

Here comes the substance: The cell phone is a tool, and it is you (well, me) who has control over it, of attention, time and energy. Since I was interested in accommodating my mornings, here's what I did according to my circumstances: Progressively, I started ignoring negative chats, checking them only if they were important. Eventually, I decided to turn off notifications.

When I wake up, I play electronic music, merengue or drum, rhythms that mean movement and joy to me. Then, I stretch, because I had even stopped doing that. I used to get out of bed and head straight for the coffee pot, which spiked my cortisol, this was the real alarm to reprogram. Believe me, there is nothing more important than feeling good and healthy. After stretching, my routine includes drinking water, physical, mental and creative exercise. Important: everything is spread throughout the week, not all at the same time or on the same day, to avoid overwhelming myself and reduce distractions.

For example, in a week I can physically exercise 3 to 4 days, but since writing is vital to me, I do it every day, and not necessarily to publish, many times it's just for me, to release ideas and emotions. When it comes to sewing or painting, I try to take a day off for that. And you may wonder, doesn't she clean her house? Here I also had to reschedule. Before, I used to do all the cleaning in one day, often when I was free, and by the time it was time to paint or sew, I was already exhausted. So, I split up the cleaning chores throughout the week. I don't always stick to the plan, but there is more order to everything.

I repeat, all this according to my circumstances. The invitation is to take what works for you. It's not easy to make changes like this, but always think about your well-being and the long term. It's better to do a little bit every day for your goal than nothing all year. Look, this whole restructuring didn't happen overnight; it's taken me about a year to build up my courage, focus and energy. I started with a list of what I would like to expand and then another list of what was definitely not doing me any good.

I realized that much of that discomfort was on the other side of the screen, and it was up to me to regulate it. This included people, thoughts and habits. At first, they made noise, and I still struggle, I don't deny it. But I felt more and more in control and moving toward my goal. I turned my attention and my energy to me, for that child Afrika, for that young Afrika, that which does not add up takes access away from me, it has been a great gift to begin to see my decisions this way. After all, turning off notifications and muting conversations that were getting me nowhere, has given me back more time and focus than I thought it would.

Te regalo las preguntas que me ayudaron a redireccionar.

I give you the questions that helped me to redirect.

AFRIKA