[Tart Cherry Jam]

Sometimes I cannot make myself stop one thing I am doing to do the next thing. A prime example is calling it a day and going to bed, but it is not the only example. Sometimes when I get home and stop the car, I mindlessly scroll my phone instead of simply leaving the car and going home and doing what is next on my TODO list.

It sounds so trivial and stupid, but I have a problem with it and wonder if anyone has found good solutions for this sort of stupor or I do not know how to call it.

[*Beth*]

I never had a problem with those types of transitions at all until I was many years into using the internet. Now, yes. It sounds neither trivial nor stupid; what you're describing can really screw with your daily schedule, including sleep, and end up creating a lot of stress.

So I find that I get busy online and even though I'm so tired I can barely keep my eyes open I think Just one more thing I have to check. And I'm a lousy typist. So because I'm sleepy I tend to make more typing mistakes, get more frustrated, it takes me even longer to accomplish what I'm determined to accomplish, the time is passing. I'm getting to bed later than I wanted to. Suddenly almost an hour has passed and I'm all stressed out.

Or I had a list of chores to do. But I'm online and I love interacting with people online. I have lots of catching up to do. Next thing I know hours have sped by and, despite me telling myself several times I needed to get off the computer I didn't. The chores weren't done.

For me, I believe that my behavior is, in great part, the result of not having anything fun IRL going on. Being online is my "fun thing." It's gratifying. I live in a boring town and none of my old friends are here. My husband is here, but we see each other only a few hours on some evenings. My relationships are my online family/friends, whether those are my IRL or my solely online.

I'm not sure I'm referring to the same thing you're having a challenge with. My transition difficulty is, I think, a difficulty with delaying gratification.

[Tart Cherry Jam]

Yes, Beth, you are referring exactly to what for me constitutes a major challenge. I find it a little easier now that you called it neither trivial nor stupid. I will think about this as a difficulty with delaying gratification and see where it leads me.