The difference one screen makes

Professionally, I'm a data professional. I enjoy finding patterns, building dashboards, and performing analyses. Several months ago, I had a three screen set up: two large external screens and my laptop screen. I was productive and enjoying the good life. Then, on April 2, 2024, I became a father to a beautiful baby girl. 

When I returned to work, I found my setup didn't help me. I wanted to use my external screens, but my baby girl needed attention at various spots throughout the day. I found myself complaining to my wife about not working the way I liked to and watching my baby girl while my wife was at work. After that discussion, I realized how prideful I had been and that I was the one who needed to change. As I thought about what I could do to be a good employee and still provide for my daughter while my wife was at work, this thought came to me: remove the external screens and work on just your laptop. 

I initially dismissed the idea. As I worked the next few days, I continued to struggle with this thought. When I would pray, this idea came to my mind. When I would read my scriptures, this thought came to my mind. I could not shake this idea. I soon realized it wasn't a thought. It was God trying to teach me. I was still being prideful about wanting to work my way. I did not recognize God was trying to teach me a better way to work and be able to take care of my daughter. I soon realized, there were only two ways to go: move to a single-screen or continue to be prideful and kick against the pricks. So, I made the only decision that made any sense - I went with what God was trying to teach me.

Over the next several weeks and down to the present time, I have been on just my laptop. I had to learn a new way to work and operate. There have been fun times and some down right difficult times. What has been impressed on my mind than anything are the blessings that have followed from making the switch. Here are a few of them.

  • I can be anywhere in the house. I'm not locked down at my desk. This has proven very useful. During the first week of using a single screen, I found Jane really liked laying on the couch. If I had disregarded this prompting, I would have missed several special moments working with Jane by my side.
  • Traveling is a lot easier. I'm a remote employee and being flexible on location is important. If there is a sensitive meeting, I can move and my family can stay where they are. If we want to get out of town and stay at an Airbnb for a week, we can do that now - I just need an internet connection. If we have a long drive, but I still need to work, I fire up my mobile hotspot and keep working. 
  • My productivity has improved. I have noticed I am more focused on the current task with one screen rather than having multiple screens up. Using multiple screens allowed me to see more, but often I found myself distracted and unfocused. With one screen, I see what I am working on and I can focus completely on that. 
You might be asking, "What does any of this have to do with addiction recovery?" The second maintenance step is personal revelation. Up to this point, the path has been laid out for us to follow. In step 11, we get the opportunity to work with the Lord to find the path. I will admit, it is rocky at first. Learning how the Lord speaks to me was not easy. It took a lot of practice. Once I figured out how the Lord spoke to me, I started to recognize when the Lord was teaching me. It truly is a great blessing to seek out personal revelation from the Lord!

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