“Under a month… is that better?”
“It is,” Dr. Thegan agreed.
“I have something different planned for us today,” I said.
“Oh really?”
“Let’s go for a walk.”
Dr. Thegan looked at me a little puzzled.
“I don’t feel like sitting in a chair today.”
Her quizzical look softened as she replied,”Alright Mr. Smith. Alright.”
She followed my lead as I got up out of the chair and headed towards the door.
“Oh, one thing…can you ditch the lab coat today?”
Under the lab coat, Dr. Thegan was wearing a red sweater over a cream blouse of some kind and khaki slacks. She looked so. . . normal.
“Is my dress code acceptable?” she asked with a smirk, and I realized I had been observing a tad too long.
“Haha. You look great! Let’s go!”
We headed out of the neat and scholarly office, into the hallways. As we passed the receptionist, Dr. Thegan told her,”Offsite session – I’ll be back.”
I jokingly winked at the receptionist, just to see if I could get Dr. Thegan in trouble later. I was a bit unnerved when the receptionist smiled and winked back.
Outside was crisp and cool. It was autumn, and the trees that dotted the street were still clinging to an occasional assortment of colorful leaves. We walked down the sidewalk, passed the coffee shop.
“I started a new song a couple weeks back, and in it was a line ‘quit living life as a distraction.’ It reminded me of you, and what we seem to talk about over and over again. Do you think I live my life as a distraction?”
“Yes and no, Mr. Smith. As you have pointed out…sometimes you are free from the typical distractions, but sometimes you invent your own. When you think of ‘distraction,’ what does it mean to you?”
“It’s all over the map. But society at large to me is a distraction-based social network. For example, if I play on-line games, watch TV, go to a sporting event or concert, hang out at a bar, certain types of internet surfing and stuff like that. Those are just a distraction – which is fine, we all need to relax sometimes. But in the end, nothing was done to better this world, nothing was done to even maintain it, we MIGHT have learned something, but usually it is not anything that is going to advance us, or fix any of our issues as a society. That is distraction to me. And again, I know we all need a bit of it, but in today’s society it seems to be almost like a cult or religion for a lost people.”
“You’ve swept a broad brush stroke with that definition; however, by that definition, I don’t think you spend a lot of time distracted.”
“I don’t either. But for some reason I don’t feel much closer to my goals than most of the other lost souls out there.”
“You just need to focus.”
“Do I? I like to write, draw, compose, create – that’s what I do.”
“Then why are we talking? If you’ve truly accepted that, then we’re done, Mr. Smith.”
At that point I just started to laugh. Sometimes, that’s all a person can do.
“Why are you laughing?”
“This weekend I watched the Lord of the Rings Trilogy. In it, there was a character nicknamed Golem. He has a split personality and has conversations with himself. I just realized how our sessions kinda remind me of that. Only, thank God, you are much cuter.”
“Your digression is a perfect example. Focus, Mr. Smith, that is your demon. That is what keeps you from generating a cohesive future for yourself. You need to prioritize and stick to those priorities.”
A cool breeze kicked up, and I felt a chill radiate through me.
“You have made some good progress. You’ve proven you can start and finish a project like a poster, or a song, or a video. But those are small projects. You need to tackle some bigger projects and really see them through. In fact,” she continued,” for our next visit, I will need something from you. I will need proof that you have given your life priorities some thought and you need to select a couple big, juicy projects to finish. Pick one that will take a month or two, pick another that will take a year or two. Then come talk to me when you are ready to start.”
“Only two?” I asked.
“Read what you write… You’ve already asked me that one.”