3dogmom at RevGals asks us to list five things we use as distractions when the going gets tough.

I’m super good at distracting myself most of the time. Just stay busy! Sooooo very busy! So busy I can’t think about that thing I really should attend to, or the horrors of the day which lately seem to require almost constant prayer. But here are things I just don’t know what I’d do without when Life becomes too much:

Books/Reading: 1st class ticket on the imagination train. I can’t remember not knowing how to read, and it has always been an escape hatch for me.

Movies: akin to the books of course, because if I really need distracting I’m watching a great film adaptation of  Jane Austen. Always a happy, just ending, comeuppances delivered to those in need of them,  witty dialogue and gorgeous scenery. On the other hand, if I need to see some justice meted out there is always Gladiator, the 300, or Star Ship Troopers. There is something deeply satisfying in a villain meeting a grisly end.

British tabloids: oh God I love them. Badly written, full of half-truths and scandal, hilarious headlines…. Who doesn’t want to read a completely fabricated story about the battle royal between the Queen and Kate?

Cooking shows and Cooking: oh, I watch them all the time for inspiration, at least the ones that aren’t shouting at me (subject for a whole other post, but when, oh when did the Food Network turn into gladiator games?). But when the news is just too much, let me spend an hour with Ina Garten in the afternoon, with her calm, winking delivery, fabulous friends, and beautiful kitchen and gardens.

Housework: yeah, I know, it’s supposed to distract me from the unpleasant, but what is more pleasant than stepping back and looking at a neat, tidy, lovely room and saying, “I did that!” It gives me a sense of control. I like control. And maybe that is distraction’s purpose: it is us wresting control from the things that would pull us under. Have I mentioned my love for control?