Interruptions

Today, my thoughts stem from listening to a recent homily this past weekend and reflecting on the fact that life is short.

Many times, in life, our train of thought gets interrupted by not being mindful of our current situation, or we are distracted and frustrated about something that has happened to us.

On Saturday evening, I learned of the recent death of a Parishioner who passed away after seeing him at Mass the previous week.

Ironically, I’m also celebrating a heavenly anniversary this past week by celebrating the life of my father, who died five years ago on November 11, 2020, at the age of 93 years old.

When the Pastor spoke about interruptions, all kinds of thoughts flooded my mind.

One thought was hours before Mass this weekend, members of the Knights of Peter Claver and Ladies Auxiliary were assembled for a meeting with the Bishop of the Birmingham Diocese.  Unfortunately, at the end of the meeting, I had to interrupt conversations to get everyone’s attention in taking a group picture with his excellency.

I could physically see the frustration or facial expression while this was happening.

In another incident, of course, we had in the United States an interruption for 43 days with the Government shutdown.  We already know the Government shutdown caused stress on families, not knowing when it would end or if they were going to receive back pay.

We experience or experience interruptions when our Internet goes out at the most inopportune time in our Zoom Meetings. At least that’s how I see it.

I depend on the Internet, and when it’s not working, there is an interruption to my daily routine.

We have Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) that are supposed to hold up from power being interrupted but sometimes fail in the process.

We have people in our lives who fail to properly plan, causing us to react to their plans at the last minute.

These are the people who like to work in crisis management mode and are most likely to be reactive instead of being proactive.  The one who has never read “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People” By Stephen R. Covey and doesn’t operate in quadrant two. They don’t understand the principles of “Put first things first.”

Covey talks about what is important versus what is urgent. Priority should be given in the following order:

• Quadrant I. Urgent and important (Do) – important deadlines and crises
• Quadrant II. Not urgent but important (Plan) – long-term development
• Quadrant III. Urgent but not important (Delegate) – distractions with deadlines
• Quadrant IV. Not urgent and not important (Eliminate) – frivolous distractions

“The order is important, says Covey: after completing items in quadrant I, people should spend the majority of their time on II, but many people spend too much time in III and IV. The calls to delegate and eliminate are reminders of their relative priority.”

You can also refer to this “The Eisenhower Matrix.”

The Eisenhower Matrix: How to Prioritize Your To-Do List [2025] • Asana

Overall, when I heard the homily, it hit home with all the interruptions in my life that I’ve dealt with over time.

What about your interruptions with people who sometimes just don’t get it?

Sometimes we get sleep interruptions, whereas we can’t go back to sleep, or our sleep cycles are broken.

I know that with the recent change of daylight savings time that took place on November 2, 2025, my circadian rhythm was interrupted.  I was interrupted with the clocks falling back an hour as I reset my internal clock for changes in guiding me back to sleep and waking up.

There are various schedule interruptions that we must contend with each day.

There are various health challenges that are part of aging and getting older.

There are various car challenges depending on your favorite automaker, as recalls are always happening.

Today, my question is what interruptions you are facing in life. Granted, there will be unpleasant things and circumstances may cause interruptions and delays, but never lose sight of your goal.

“Circumstances may cause interruptions and delays but never lose sight of your goal. Prepare yourself in every way you can by increasing your knowledge and adding to your experience, so that you can make the most of opportunity when it occurs.”  Mario Andretti

Blog source: https://mckinleysthoughts.com/interruptions/