Turn the volume up
The world is a noisy place. No surprise there. We all know it. We all find our ways to deal with it.
At the end of a long day, some of us go for a drive in the country and leave our cell phones behind on the kitchen counter. Nothing scrubs away the mental residue of a day’s email traffic like a quiet half hour under the stars on a warm spring night. Parking on a lonely dirt road and counting the satellites that pass overhead is a little slice of heaven after a hectic day.
And we’re lucky here in the sticks. A quiet county road is only a few minutes from the front door for most of us. For others, it’s just a step off the front porch.
I live in town, but I sat on my steps a few nights ago and listened to the coyotes howling. That’s a huge quality-of-life win. It’s the kind of perk that should find its way into our real estate descriptions. “Cute three-bedroom cottage on a corner lot. Fenced-in yard. Nice neighborhood. Coyotes within earshot most evenings.”
I’d pay extra for that. The description could also include a mention of sunset flyovers by area geese. I enjoy those from my front steps too, right along with the tuneful wailing of coyote pups.
Another way to shrug off the noise of this crazy world is to take an early walk. Before checking the inbox or the social media notifications, slipping into a good pair of tennis shoes and striding off to admire the morning sky and the neighbors’ landscaping is an effective antidote for the daily static that’s yet to come, once the world wakes up.
Many of us embrace a morning coffee drive as well. Those county roads still beckon after the sun rises. If there’s no time for a country drive, a chair on the back patio suits nicely. When our bipolar weather settles down, a coffee tour of the garden is another quiet distraction from the coming day. And let’s face it. No matter the location, coffee tastes better outside. Especially when we leave the cell phone sitting next to the coffeemaker on the kitchen counter.
Sometimes we’re prone to distracting ourselves from the world’s clatter by invoking more of it, just clatter of a different kind. We hit the house at the end of the day and turn on the television, maybe one in every room. We stare at shows we don’t care about, while we simultaneously lose ourselves in marathon doomscrolling sessions. And after a couple of hours, we get what I call video head. That’s when I suddenly have a feeling that I’ve done something wrong—I’ve forgotten an important task or messed up on some significant responsibility. I’m beset with an unfounded fear that someone’s angry with me, or that I’ve failed someone I’m close to. In short, I have a classic attack of impending doom, as the old novels used to say.
My logical mind knows it’s nothing. But my emotions think it’s something and I have to fix it. The problem is, I don’t know how.
That’s when I have to give myself a stern talking-to. At the very least, I can change all those televisions from program-of-least-resistance streaming to something I’m actually interested in. Or turn a few of them off and find some good music instead.
At the very best, I can take myself outside, sit on the steps, and listen for coyotes. Maybe bring along some coffee, or a cup of chamomile tea. And for sure, leave my cell phone on the kitchen counter.
Lately, I’ve tried to reawaken my interest in former hobbies as a way of turning down the noise of the day. Crocheting is still a great pastime, and it’s not just for grannies, even though I am one.
I can draw, make photo books, or bake something healthful. And reading a recipe online is perhaps the best reason to keep my cellphone on the kitchen counter.