I have 2 separate components that are very "far" from each other (no parent-child relationship to pass props around):

1. A component that does a count-down and navigates away when timer is hit.
2. A text field down below the page.

I want to stop the timer when the user is editing the text field.

Besides saving an "isEditing" state into Redux or window (or some state management) from component #2, and monitoring that state from component #1, are there any standard React way to achieve this?

Perhaps there is a way for a ref to listen to another ref's property change, such as focus?