Friday Feature: The Sound of Silence

If you're a regular reader, you know I'm the kind of girl who likes a quiet house. As much as I try to be grateful for everything that a noisy house signifies, I struggle to relax amid a cacophony of sounds. The more I learn about the brain, the more I realize that I find all of this exhausting because my brain is trying to process it all. Ambient noise in an unfamiliar place is easily relegated to background -- something I know I don't need to pay attention to. Noises made by those with whom I share my home are more significant. They alert me to activity that might actually be meaningful and which inevitably provokes an emotional response. This response can be positive (Oh, good, she's unloading the dishwasher), annoyed (Does he have to do that now?) or anywhere else along the emotional spectrum

And I'm from Jersey. Trust me when I tell you I have an emotional spectrum.

The past few weeks have been far from quiet, with construction, disrupted schedules and end-of-semester responsibilities making their own kind of music inside and outside of my head. I have been longing for a quiet day -- one where I get up without an alarm, choose what I want to do, where I want to do it, and how much noise (none, thank you very much) will accompany each activity.

I was starting to worry about myself a bit, wondering if I'm becoming a crotchety old woman. But then, I found this article on Healthline, one that extols the virtues of physical and mental health benefits of silence. Not only am I not alone, I'm on the right track!

Go figure.

When we were planning our sun porch addition, I put my foot down, declaring the new space a no-TV zone. Anyone who wished to listen to music or watch YouTube videos or movies was welcome to bring a bluetooth speaker or portable device out here, but nothing like that will live in this new space. Here, on my sun porch (more about that on Monday) all noise is à la carte. Quiet is the default. At this moment, the only sounds in this room are the blower on the heating unit and the clicking of my laptop keys. 

Sounds perfect to me.