Tuning out the background noise

Don’t wait around for your life to happen to you. Find something that makes you happy, and do it. Because everything else is all just background noise.

American lawyer, politician, and Virginian, George Mason, was born on this day in 1725 (died 1792).

Honestly? I’m a little skeptical of that quote.

No, not the sentiment, I like that (more in a minute).

But, while I’ve seen it attributed to George Mason in several places on the Internet, I’m just not sure it fits the tone of his other writings.

Know the true story? Can you fill me in with the source?

Regardless, I like the sentiment.

Face it, much of life is just background noise.

Whether it’s the TV or radio running in the background, the dogs barking next door because your cat is standing on the deck yowling to be let in (so that he can go out again), or co-workers who never learned how to use their inside voices…we all have things vying for our attention, trying to take away our focus from the things that are most important.

You know, like binge watching Season 2 of The Crown over the weekend.

Or attending yesterday’s Messiah Sing-along for the first time ever even though you’ve wanted to do it for years.

Or hanging out with a friend and consuming multiple, but not dangerous levels, of ale.

Not that I did or didn’t do any of those things over the weekend.

Your list may vary.

What I didn’t do, thanks to the weather, was get a load of crap to the landfill, or the thrift store. And I didn’t move any leaves other than what I may or may not have moved when I put up the very minimalist Christmas lights on the porch.

None of those things, however, are background noise for me. Because they’re things I want to be doing.

Okay, I don’t really want to be dealing with leaves, but I want them gone. Not being able to see them under the snow was a weekend bonus.

So, there’s that.

Christmas is two weeks away.

But remember, we’re not getting stressed about it. Right?

I’m looking forward to the times we’ll have over the holidays. The older son and the granddog will be home for Christmas. Perhaps briefly, but they’ll be here.

And other family will be making their ways in and out as well.

I’m sure there will be stress over food preparations and gifts and all of that. But it will get done one way or another.

Or, it won’t and Christmas will still come.

And the New Year after that.

For me, 2017 hasn’t been a bad year. A couple of health challenges I could have done without. They sort of derailed my strong commitment to get my health back on track. But there have been some neat theatre opportunities, some good writing opportunities, and lots of things to think about.

True, there wasn’t enough time on the beach. That needs to be corrected in 2018. We’re working on that.

So, unlike 2016 when I think we were all waiting for that ball to drop in Times Square, I won’t be sad to see 2017 go, but neither am I anxious for it to end.

Still, I like the New Year. I like the new pages on the calendar. I like the new plans.

I still have another post brewing, but let’s just say that I’m determined to live more intentionally in 2018.

Less background noise. More things I want to be doing.

Less bull $#1%. More things that matter.

It can happen.

It’s a two-fer for videos today.

Puerto-Rican-American Actress, singer, and dancer, Rita Moreno, was born on this day in 1931. Moreno is one of twelve (at this count) people to have achieved the EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony) in the entertainment industry.



And because American singer-songwriter Brenda Lee was born on this day in 1944, we can’t miss our opportunity to Rock Around the Christmas Tree.



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Verse of the Day selection provided by BibleGateway.com
Cover Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash

 

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