Welcome to our weekly Five Minute Friday writing prompt link-up!

Every Friday, I share a one-word writing prompt and invite anyone who is interested to freewrite for five minutes flat. Want to join us? Feel free to keep your writing private, or share your work in the link-up or comments below.

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This week’s FMF writing prompt is: DISTRACTION

I’m embarrassed by how easily distracted I can be. Thankfully, my kids usually find it quite amusing. Especially when I’m in front of my computer, I can become the queen of rabbit trails, opening one tab for one purpose, getting distracted and soon ending up far, far away from my initial intent, with several minutes lost forever.

I’ve gotten used to the endless scroll, whether on Facebook on my laptop or on Instagram on my phone. Often I end up reading the same posts and seeing the same images over and over again. Is that really how I should be spending my time?

So, I’ve decided to take a break from both Facebook and Instagram for the month of May. I’ve done it before (years ago), and it was rather shocking how many times I tried to log in during the first few days of my break. (I had to get my sister to change my password for me before I started my month-long “sabbatical” because I knew I would cheat if I knew the password.)

But thankfully, after the first several days I grew accustomed to not going to social media to fill time and found other, more productive ways to spend those minutes (and hours — let’s be honest).

My hope is that I will not only get some more writing done during May than I would have otherwise, but that I’ll also take time to look up and appreciate what’s right in front of me.

STOP.

P.S. I will still be hosting the weekly #fmfparty Twitter party during the month of May, and I will also schedule Facebook posts and Instagram posts from a third-party app, but I won’t be able to see any comments or questions. If you need to reach me, feel free to email! Also: If you’re not yet signed up for the Five Minute Friday email list, you can join here.

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Join the fun by sharing your own five-minute freewrite below! You can either leave your work in the comments or click the “Add Your Link” button to participate in the link-up. Be sure to visit your link-up neighbor to read their post and leave an encouraging comment!