Ice crunchers and bird whistlers…

Little things distract us.

Annoyances impact us.

Pet peeves frustrate us.

We are bothered by things around us. 

We lose focus because of things out of our control. 

We can’t control those things, just us.

We can’t control the craziness of life, but we can control our thoughts and attitudes...

I was in a training class recently and couldn't get past a few things.  They were driving me crazy. They were distracting me. They were frustrations that I couldn't control.

I sat in a row where two people were crunching ice. That’s not wrong, although a dentist may say it’s bad for your enamel. It’s just a habit and some people like ice. I don’t hate those people, nor was I ready to punch them, or put them in a reverse choke hold, or take them out like a linebacker, but I did think about it...

I was just distracted because I hate to hear crunching of anything. I just can’t take it. I don’t know why, other than I just don’t know how to avoid hearing it, and it's truly annoying.

Another person in the room, kept making a bird whistle tweet nose, just like a smartphone with twitter alerts does. Just a short tweet or two, but they did it all day long, for two days, and did it every 5-6 minutes. At first I ignored it thinking it was a bird outside, then I kept hearing it and I couldn't figure it out. It took me until day two to realize who it was. I stuffed a sock in their mouth, wrapped a gag around their head, took them outside and beat them with a pillow case full of bars of soap, and pushed them in the throne bushes. Okay, I didn’t do the sock part…

I was distracted and out of focus. I’m 100% sure I have ADD, and ADHD, and OCD, and HDTV and DirectTV and all sorts of other initials wrong with me. I struggle to keep my attention on one thing at a time. If you saw the movie “UP!” just think of the dogs that yelled “Squirrel” every so often and were distracted. You have a good picture of me, other than my coat is shinier. 

Were the folks that had the habits the culprit of my distraction or was it me?

You know the answer. It was a resounding “ME!” Big fail!

I control my pet peeves. I chose them to begin with. They’re called “Pet” for a reason. We feed them and cuddle them and nurture them just like we do a real pet. We hold them as part of our family and don’t want them to leave. We think they’re okay to hold dear and they sometimes give us comfort. They’re hard to battle, but we have to be careful not to let them get control.

So, when you see me, crunch a cube or five, and whistle in my ear, and let’s see if I’ve won the battle over my pet peeves…

Lessons Learned: I choose my attitude. Mr. ice cruncher and whistler man - I will get you, if you’re reading this...

Thoughts: What pet peeves are distracting you?

#failalot