Chapter 6: How to Focus on Several Things at OnceIn our family, there were eight of us — my father, mother, my brother, myself, and my sister with her three kids. But then, tragedy struck. My sister fell seriously ill and never recovered. She passed away, leaving her three children in our care.

  The two oldest were somewhat independent, but the youngest — a baby not even a year old — required constant attention. Since everyone else in the family was occupied with the older kids, the baby became my full-time responsibility.

  At first, it wasn’t too hard. But as time went on, I realized that almost all my free time was vanishing into taking care of this tiny human.

  Instead of trying to cut back on the time spent, I made a different decision: I decided to train my attention. I began reading in intervals — 10 seconds of reading, 10 seconds of watching the baby. Over and over. Hours at a time.

  At first, it was rough. My head hurt. My focus slipped constantly. But I stuck with it. And slowly, I adapted.

  Then I added a third task: solving CAPTCHAs for a little extra income. Now the loop looked like this — 10 seconds of reading, 10 seconds of solving, 10 seconds of watching the baby. Repeat. Over and over.

  It became mentally exhausting. There were times when my brain felt like it was splitting. The headache never really left. But I had no choice — I needed the money, and I loved reading too much to stop. I endured.

  Six months passed.

  Then one day, my parents decided to take the whole family on a trip to rest. I declined and stayed behind — alone in the apartment for the first time in a year. No noise. No baby. Just me and silence.

  I opened a book.

  Almost immediately, I noticed something strange. As I read, I could still sense the world around me — not through direct sight or sound, but peripherally. I could feel the air shift, hear distant sounds, sense movement — and yet, I remained completely focused on the book.

  That’s when it hit me: I had gained something new. A yered awareness, a kind of parallel focus.

  What had once been a necessity became a skill. Now, even in silence, I can pay attention to more than one thing — and none of them distract me.

  I didn’t just survive that period. I came out of it stronger.