Irritants

All this introspection has made me realize that I have a lot of irritants in my life.

No, laundry isn’t one of them, though it is the bane of my existence. It is one of those things that just is. I don’t have a choice as to whether or not I do the laundry.

But some of those irritants I mentioned? I do have a choice about them.

For example, I’m currently reading a book that has received national attention. It’s the first book in a trilogy and I’m only a third of the way through the book but I think it’s getting to me on a subconscious level.

It should be noted here that although I’m only a third of the way through the book I have already read the ending. It’s just what I do. I can’t help it. I have to know how stories end so I read the first couple of chapters, get a sense of the characters and then go read the last chapter. Once I know how it ends, I go back and continue from where I left off.

Anyway, I’m reading this book and OMG…I am so annoyed. I HATE the main male character so, so much. He’s horrible. He’d domineering, creepy, obnoxious, selfish and just hateful. Oh, and he likes to hit the main female character. He gets off on it. This freaks me right the hell out.

Another issue I have with this book is that it’s written in first person. I HATE that. It drives me nuts. I know, put the stupid book down, right?

Believe me, I have no intention of reading the second and third books in the Shades series, just because I like how the first one ends and I don’t want to go backward in my relief that it ends the way it does. And please, if you like the Shades trilogy, this isn’t anything about you, I just am not enjoying the first book very much at all and that’s just me. I get that there are a lot of people out there who like this book and that’s fine. It’s just obviously not my thing. I’ll stick with Amanda Quick for my light, fluffy reading pleasures, thank you very much.

But that irritant is something that I have a choice about, it what I’m saying. I can put the book down and walk away. I can’t quite erase from my mind some of the things I’ve already read but I don’t have to go back for more.

The weather is another irritant. And I can’t do anything about it. I’m so tired of cold, windy days. Ugh! I would like to start walking outside every other day but the weather isn’t cooperating. Ha! As if, right? But seriously, I’d like to have the option of going out for a walk should the inclination hit.

Sleep is always a bone of contention in our house. Just yesterday I snippily said to Tom, “I don’t get to go to sleep at 7pm each night to sleep through the night and wake refreshed at 4:30 to workout.”

He offered to stay up until whenever if I wanted him to, but what’s the point? Even if I did go to sleep at 7pm, I don’t see me getting up at 4:30 to workout anyway. So…I just told him to go to sleep.

There are a lot of irritants in our lives. Some we control, some we don’t. But learning which ones we can control and making changes accordingly can go a long way toward making life just a little better.

And for the record, I do know how good I have it. I really do. I also know that there are things I can do to make things better. And I’m working on that, whining the whole way.