Here Goes....
I first heard the term “errors of misplaced precision” when I began Research class in my doctoral program. Immediately I was struck by the perfect ‘usability’ of the term as a description of how we spend much of our lives and then try to interpret its meaning. Though describing the use of data as a means to manipulate research findings thus confusing the real findings for more desirable ones it felt like it had a different meaning to me. For me it meant focusing with great attention and commitment on the wrong thing and blaming my results on whatever you were focused on, often missing the real cause or root. The feeling that flowed through me as I said this phase to myself resonated with the idea that much of my life has been spent making this kind of error. Things like working to choose the right college or the right clothes or the right entree which are ultimately all changeable or of minimal longterm significance. Important things like recognizing ow something man us feel or pausing to take in a restorative breath get lost in the shuffle.
What first comes to mind is parenting. Worrying about the wrong thing with great intensity while literally missing the point. My favorite memory of this type of behavior was when I arrived at my sons’ ( triplets ) preschool thinking I was picking up one with an upset stomach and was greeted by one of the other mothers asking me if my son was okay. I answered, he’s fine, just an upset stomach. She replied “Not that one, the one whose head was stuck in the swing set.
Both were fine So often, our attention is on solving one problem, unravelling one dilemma or answering one question when what we really need to be addressing is entirely some other part of the mystery much less apparent, interesting or comfortable to address. Perhaps as in my case mentioned above, it is a situation that we are not even aware of. Regardless, we are addressing or attributing the results we see or expect to the wrong phenomenon.
I decided that this phrase is the perfect name for my blog which is aimed at folks from 35 and above who are attempting to understand, deal with, evaluate, enhance, the complicated lives that we as women live while working to balance a marriage, raising a family, rowing a career, dealing with ever-changing bodies, staying safe in a crazy world and still managing to not get lost in the enormity of it all. I have just celebrated my seventieth birthday and have felt called to share some of the experiential wisdom tat has been bestowed upon me through my years. I am a daughter, a wife, a sister (as well as step sister and half sister), a mother as well as a nurse, a yoga therapist, a writer, a student, a teacher and a friend to many. My sons once described me as a “Doctor (PhD) and a nurse who didn’t help anybody”. Id like to change that. I hope that at least some of my words will resonate with you and maybe offer some my reassurance that your experiences are not unique or abnormal. Maybe some of the things I say will even make you chuckle. Here goes.