The new semester is around the corner, and most everything of mine is ready to go. The hardest part will be letting go of the quiet and throwing myself back into it all.
For several weeks I've been able to live a little more relaxed life, free of voice mail, grade reports, student troubles and surprise visitors. It's let me stay up longer and sleep in a little later. It's let me take trips into town with hubby during the week and provided opportunities to see after things that went undone for too long.
Most of all, it's provided blessed opportunities for quiet. I've caught up on some reading, thought my way through a problem or two, and generally got myself to a good place from which to begin the second half of the school year. I've spent many a pleasant afternoon at home, on the couch, with a blanket and a book. No television, no radio; just the sounds of the house humming along. It's gotten me to a happy place inside. It's hard to reach that when you're surrounded by noise, be it actual noise or emotional noise.
(Let's differentiate "noise" from "sound." Mainly, "noise" is a term for sound that's annoying. I'm okay with sound, even if it's a little loud, as long as it's sound that accomplishes something. Sometimes, it's even relaxing, like the sound of the dryer going.)
I've fought noise for many years, and this is part of what sets me apart from some of my contemporaries and many folks younger than I am. Noise will interrupt what I'm trying to do and make my brain shut down. For instance, somebody's loud radio will annoy me. Loud conversation from the next table, or the next room. Somebody playing an iPod too loud. A loud television. My brain shuts down, and my first instinct will be to go someplace where I won't hear it. I become very irritable around noise. No, the silence is what I need, because my brain cannot function around noise. It makes me feel harried, hurried, rushed and anxious. I want to get away from it, because my brain needs peace and quiet to function. And few people seem to appreciate that. To most, it must make me seem an oddity.
We're so surrounded by noise these days that I wonder what some folks would do if they had to deal with quiet. Would the silence drive them as crazy as the noise does me?
For several weeks I've been able to live a little more relaxed life, free of voice mail, grade reports, student troubles and surprise visitors. It's let me stay up longer and sleep in a little later. It's let me take trips into town with hubby during the week and provided opportunities to see after things that went undone for too long.
Most of all, it's provided blessed opportunities for quiet. I've caught up on some reading, thought my way through a problem or two, and generally got myself to a good place from which to begin the second half of the school year. I've spent many a pleasant afternoon at home, on the couch, with a blanket and a book. No television, no radio; just the sounds of the house humming along. It's gotten me to a happy place inside. It's hard to reach that when you're surrounded by noise, be it actual noise or emotional noise.
(Let's differentiate "noise" from "sound." Mainly, "noise" is a term for sound that's annoying. I'm okay with sound, even if it's a little loud, as long as it's sound that accomplishes something. Sometimes, it's even relaxing, like the sound of the dryer going.)
I've fought noise for many years, and this is part of what sets me apart from some of my contemporaries and many folks younger than I am. Noise will interrupt what I'm trying to do and make my brain shut down. For instance, somebody's loud radio will annoy me. Loud conversation from the next table, or the next room. Somebody playing an iPod too loud. A loud television. My brain shuts down, and my first instinct will be to go someplace where I won't hear it. I become very irritable around noise. No, the silence is what I need, because my brain cannot function around noise. It makes me feel harried, hurried, rushed and anxious. I want to get away from it, because my brain needs peace and quiet to function. And few people seem to appreciate that. To most, it must make me seem an oddity.
We're so surrounded by noise these days that I wonder what some folks would do if they had to deal with quiet. Would the silence drive them as crazy as the noise does me?
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