Zoning Out

It's been said before, but it never ceases to amaze me how our greatest strengths are our greatest weaknesses as well.
I was sitting at a cafe along the Nile tonight with Rosemary. The sun was setting, there was a lovely breeze, and I had a fresh mango juice. I was completely relaxed and disconnecting from the rest of the world. That ability to disconnect is one of my great strengths and greak weaknesses. I can be in a crowd of people and not see any of them, not be affected by them. It's good because the world around me can be stressed out, angry, sad, out of order, whatever, but I remain stress-free, peaceful, and laid back. It also gives me the ability to stay absolutely in tune with what is going on inside me, which helps me deal with my "issues" fairly swiftly.
The down side of this, is that I can spend too much time disconnected. I spend too much time with an inward focus. Friends around me might need me, but I'm too disconnected to notice sometimes. Also I might not get as much accomplished as I would like, because I'm spending too much time "zoned out". I always have all these goals of things I would like to accomplish with music or working on teaching stuff or Arabic or church stuff, etc., but I always seem to fall short of my own expectations.
I know that I need some disconnect time, but there must be a balance. Maybe I set my expectations too high, sometimes. But sometimes, I'm just plain avoiding life.