Over the last few months, I've had some trouble putting my thoughts into words. Another Christmas came and went. We drove up to Michigan and spent the week of Christmas and New Years Eve with my family. It was a good, mostly quiet time. The results of the election were still setting in, and I still had a feeling of shock. I had admittedly checked out of the whole political show after Bernie lost the nomination for the Democratic party, but I still tried to keep tabs on what was going on. With the high amount of what would have been "career-ruining gaffs" by our now President, I though there was no chance he would win. I, like many around me, was wrong. Being a white young-adult male living in Tennessee, this hasn't had much of a direct impact on my day-to-day life, other than just a feeling of sadness and slight anxiety with every peek at the days news feed.
I have recently been wondering what impact a constant access to "news" has been having on my life. I put parentheses around news due to the reality that most of the sources that I had been getting my information from were more personal commentary than a reporting of facts. I've realized that I've spent too much of my time reading through people's opinions of the world, instead of just taking things on as they come and devoting my energy to people and things that will bring joy and enrich my life. So, I decided to cut back on how often I look up the news. I've deleted twitter from my phone, which has cut down the amount of opinions I put in front of me. It has been quite freeing. It's not that I want to live my life with my head buried in the ground, I just want to limit the amount of voices.
One thing that Nikki and I have been doing is getting back into the things that brought us life when we were younger. We've been listening to music more. It has been nice. We've also been making an effort to go to the symphony as often as we can. I sometimes think that it is odd that we live in Nashville, where you can see several bands in a single night every night of the week, and the only concert schedule I regularly check is the Nashville Symphony. Or, maybe it isn't odd at all. We like what we like, and as we get older, we want to spend more time enjoying ourselves than trying to fit into some scene.
I have recently decided to embrace the fact that I do not fit into any sort of popular mode. I'm not a trendsetter or anything like that - I'm not striking out any path and beckoning people to follow my lead. I tend to gravitate toward things that are on the margins - specifically music. I really like weird music. I like things that don't make sense to a lot of people. It's something that Nikki and I have had more than a few conversations about. I'll show her a band that I've discovered or a movie that I want to see, and she'll check it out and say, "this is definitely one of those 'Jesse movies' or 'Jesse bands', but I'm happy that you found something that you like!"
I have recently been wondering what impact a constant access to "news" has been having on my life. I put parentheses around news due to the reality that most of the sources that I had been getting my information from were more personal commentary than a reporting of facts. I've realized that I've spent too much of my time reading through people's opinions of the world, instead of just taking things on as they come and devoting my energy to people and things that will bring joy and enrich my life. So, I decided to cut back on how often I look up the news. I've deleted twitter from my phone, which has cut down the amount of opinions I put in front of me. It has been quite freeing. It's not that I want to live my life with my head buried in the ground, I just want to limit the amount of voices.
One thing that Nikki and I have been doing is getting back into the things that brought us life when we were younger. We've been listening to music more. It has been nice. We've also been making an effort to go to the symphony as often as we can. I sometimes think that it is odd that we live in Nashville, where you can see several bands in a single night every night of the week, and the only concert schedule I regularly check is the Nashville Symphony. Or, maybe it isn't odd at all. We like what we like, and as we get older, we want to spend more time enjoying ourselves than trying to fit into some scene.
I have recently decided to embrace the fact that I do not fit into any sort of popular mode. I'm not a trendsetter or anything like that - I'm not striking out any path and beckoning people to follow my lead. I tend to gravitate toward things that are on the margins - specifically music. I really like weird music. I like things that don't make sense to a lot of people. It's something that Nikki and I have had more than a few conversations about. I'll show her a band that I've discovered or a movie that I want to see, and she'll check it out and say, "this is definitely one of those 'Jesse movies' or 'Jesse bands', but I'm happy that you found something that you like!"
I think the takeaway of this random spew of thoughts is to hold on to the ones that you love and spend your energy and time doing the things you love to do. It sounds cliche, but it really is simple. I honestly think that this is what we were created to do: love each other, support one another and enjoy our time together.