I am sure you all can raise a hand in agreement when I ask who has had someone in their life that they saw as a distraction. Or a nuisance. A pain. Someone who is always in your business and won't get out of your face... or life.

I know I certainly have. I've had people whom I viewed that way before, and all I wanted was for them to leave. But why? Why is it that when someone gets in the way of our lives we decide they need to get out? Is it in our nature to be so selfish that all we can seem to think about is ourselves and the effect that person is having on our lives? Is it that we are so caught up in their distracting and annoying ways that we can't see the possibility of a good outcome? Why do you push those so called distractions away?

Take a moment to sit back and let those questions simmer in your thoughts.

There will always be distractions in your life that pull you away from focusing on something or someone else, but I say embrace those distractions. Embrace those people who are so busy being in your life that they cannot find time for their own. Find the seed that started the root of you believing that they are a distraction in your life and ask yourself how that person can no longer be a distraction, but someone you love to be with. Discover why they long to be in your life so much more than their own. Learn about them.

I am learning to not push distractions away but trying to focus on them instead because maybe those whom we see as distractions come into our lives for a reason. Maybe we experience distractions because it is what we need to be putting our time and energy into. I encourage you to seek out that reason. Are they entering into your life for their benefit, yours, or both?

Seek out that person and the purpose their life has in yours and vice versa. As humans, we often have greater impacts upon one another than we realize and recognizing that is ever so important. The things you say to people can alter how they view themselves for the rest of their lives. Words and actions are more damaging and lasting than we think they will be. Pushing someone away can be damaging to them; they may be in your life distracting you because, for them, you are the person they need to get through each day.

To this day, I can remember damaging things that were said to me years ago, throughout grade school even, and it made me feel like a nuisance to those people. Those words haunt me, and linger still 10 years down the road. Don't be one of those people. Don't push people away. Find the joy and the beauty in the struggle of change or even the struggle of being around that person. We are given the ability to speak, not to tear others down but to encourage them and show kindness. So be careful with your words.

I believe that we grow into ourselves more when we push ourselves through difficulty. We find ourselves when we're in community with others, and there we can lift each other up instead of shoving each other down. It is through others that we learn more about ourselves. Those "distractions" may pull us away from our own lives, but through them, we learn so much more. We learn about vast varieties of people, we build relationships and we help them in their personal growth as well.

This life is not easy, but let's make the ride more joyful and encouraging by learning to embrace each other no matter the circumstance. And always keep in mind that the person in traffic, in class, on the bus or in the office needs just as much compassion and love in their life as you do. Don't push away the difficult, distracting people.