Whatever plays in the background of your day ends up narrating it.

Background input does not stay in the background. The podcast arguing while you clean, the videos running while you study, the playlist on every walk, all of it sets a mood that you then experience as your own opinion about your day. It never announces itself, which is exactly why it works. You feel the tone and credit it to your life.

Go one afternoon with nothing playing and find out what your actual mood is underneath. Then choose the background on purpose rather than by habit, since something is going to be narrating either way.