Tuning out the static....

Hey.

Do you guys remember sitting in front of your boombox trying to make your radio station tune in just right?  A titch this way or a skosh that way and it was fuzz and static and when you're trying to record your fave song off of the radio, you didn't want static did you?  So you'd sit cross-legged on the floor, leaning forward, tongue sticking out of the left side of your mouth concentrating for all of your might to get that dial just ever so.

And then right there for a second, you found it.

You've already got in a blank cassette tape and you hit the button marked 'Record'.

Smiling, you lean back and enjoy your success.

(In reality:  You've bootlegged music off of the radio. But back in the 80s and 90s, this was a very grey area of the entertainment industry.  So we'll just gloss over that little fact, shall we?)

As I've gotten older, I've noticed a certain comfort level settling into my bones much easier than it used to.  Even when I try new things that I'm nervous about, there's still a level of certainty that no matter the outcome, I'll be okay even if I don't excel at it right away.

In other words:  I've got my blank tape and I'm filling that 90 minute Side A with the songs for the soundtrack of my life.

It's just trying to tune into the actual music gets harder and harder while I try to turn the dial this way and that, fine tuning. 

One of my biggest down falls is that I am a social medium addict.  I love staying in tune and in touch with things going on all over the world.  I've got Facebook, Twitter, LiveJournal, Tumblr, Pinterest, Instagram, a Blog, a writer's account website, Ravelry, goodreads, etc.

Can you see where I might overwhelm myself with too much?

If these things had all existed when I was a teen, I never would've gotten any sleep let alone studying and eating.  I'd have been a proper Facebook and Twitter addict.

I would've followed the antics of my favorite boy band, New Kids on the Block, like a true stalker and maybe, just maybe, worked up enough gumption to finally tweet Joey McIntyre on my birthday just to hopefully get a birthday wish back from him.

Now, maybe you can see that while these tools are handy and help keep in touch with people in my life, they're also 'static'. 

In an effort to be a better me or the best 'Heather' that I can be (without apologies thank you very much), I'm going to see if I can enforce 'time-outs' with my social mediums.  I've been thumbing through Gretchen Rudin's The Happiness Project and it came to me loud and clear that there are certain goals that I have and I will never get them accomplished if I continue to dole out my time with these things.  It's not that I don't appreciate the relationships that I've re-established because of them.  No, that's not it.  I just want to re-establish a relationship with me. 

So, in the next few weeks, if I seem quiet, that would be why. 

Plus, I've got the whole Side B of that tape to fill up just yet.  Can't wait to see what I put on it.