Noise

Well, folks…here we are.

The first official full week of February has been completed.

It is currently Saturday night and I’m wrapped up with a blanket, my laptop, a Truly beverage, and candles burning as I cuddle myself in the corner of the sectional hoping to stay awake while the scent of dryer sheets fills the air in the living room from the load of wash that was just completed a few hours ago.

These are just some of the simple weekend pleasures that I get to enjoy as a single man. Nothing comes close to beating it.

Jealous?

You should be.

Anyhoo, let’s get down to business with the topic of this week’s blog post. Are you ready? Do you have your morning beverage of choice in hand? Have you added the cream and sugar?

Well, good! Because here we go!

Buckle up!

This week has been one full of something that I like to call noise.

That’s right. You read that correctly.

NOISE.

Lots of it.

Have any of you ever experienced weeks full of noise?

And I’m not talking about noise from honking horns, people screaming obscenities outside their windows, or the cars that drive by the window during the evening hours with their music blaring!

I’m talking about a different kind of noise.

Between many hours at both my full time and part time jobs (that included several draining customer interactions), meetings, and finding out that I owe a crap ton in tax money, it’s just been a week that I want to put behind me in the back of my mind wishing it never happened.

That’s why these nights of alone time are so important to me. They are one way that I recharge myself so that I can take on life with the vigor and effervescence of the Mr. Sunshine persona.

While I do view myself as a very outgoing person with many extroverted qualities, there are definite times in my life where I know that I need to just be…

…alone.

Without any noise.

Sometimes, a night of ice cream, The Golden Girls, and a weighted blanket are just what the doctor ordered.

As I come to the first month mark of being away from social media, I have to say that it has definitely been a positive experience thus far. While there are definite moments where it can be challenging, I feel like it has allowed me to slow down slightly in my life, take stock in what I do have in and really appreciate it, focus more on my well-being and health, and helped me to realize I have to be more intentional about reaching out to my friends. I don’t know if it is just me, but it actually makes relationships feel more authentic.

Quite honestly, I would recommend deactivating social media (any given platform) for just a little bit of time…even just disconnecting from it for an hour, a day, a week, or even a month can have a huge impact.

It will be liberating. Trust me.

Too often in life we get caught up in the “noise” of social media that we lose sight of the entities that really matter in life–our family, our friends, our own well-being and mental health.

I can’t tell you how excited I am to continue this journey of being without social media, exploring more about myself, taking time to enjoy some aspects of life that I haven’t enjoyed for the past year, and really just focus on me…

…without any noise.

And now, when I do experience noise, I can identify the red flag that goes up for me to stop, drop, and roll.

So, identify the noise in your life and when you have to stop, drop, and roll yourself to recharge, rejuvenate, and focus on you.

As I close out this week, I share with you one of the quotes from Hoda Kotb’s book, I Really Needed This Today that I’ve been reading this year one day at a time.

“Never assume that loud is strong and quiet is weak.”

That’s all I have for you. Until next week friends.

Sprinkle sunshine always,

JP!