This is my first post from a location that isn’t my home. It’s the first time my new laptop has left the house. I’m pretty excited. I’m spending the weekend at my parent’s house. They live waaaay out in the country on the far side of the state. It’s quite a change from my usual environment.
You have to take a backroad off of a backroad to even find this town. It’s a wonderful retreat from the world.
And as I sit here, hearing nothing but the sound of an occasional car drive by and the typing of my own fingers, I realize that I’m not a huge fan of silence. It’s so quiet here that I start to strain to pick up on a sound… any sound. In doing so, I’m hearing things that I don’t think I’d normally notice.
Like creaking… and other “house noises”. It’s a bit creepy. I guess it doesn’t help that I heard footsteps in the woods behind my parent’s house earlier. As I said… I don’t like it.
But why is that? I always hear people praying for silence… or “peace and quiet”. What is it that I should be getting out of this absolute silence? What am I missing here? What’s so great about silence?
Maybe it’s because I’ve always been able to go into my head and let the rest of the world fall away (sometimes to my own detriment). I guess in that way I’m able to silence the world around me on a whim. Or maybe it’s because I just don’t like hearing all of the “quiet sounds” (is that throbbing, pulsating noise electricity or something???).
Maybe one of you quiet-lovers out there will fill me on whatever it is that I’m not getting. But for now… it’s time to fire up a playlist or something.
Ya know… before I go insane…
Update: Great… now dogs are howling off in the distance. Could this get any more cheap-flick horror movie?
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I’m the exact opposite, I guess, because I hate the noise of non-stop traffic and helicopters flying overhead here in town. I would MUCH rather hear the dogs howling and the crickets chirping.
Though I know that pulsating sound you’re talking about, and it’s quite annoying. That’s why I always have me some background noise unless I’m outside!
I don’t mind the dogs howling… unless I’m trying to go to sleep and it’s night (I get scared… laugh away).
At least when a helicopter flies overhead I know what’s going on. When the dogs start up there’s no telling what’s creeping around out there!
When I tell people I need some “peace and quiet” it usually means I just don’t want anyone TALKING to me… because sometimes a person’s voice can be the most annoying sound of all!
“Wanna hear the most annoying sound in the world?”
AAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYYHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH…..
hahahahaha
I’m the same as Mandy. You can’t beat natural sound from the countryside.
Derick, didn’t you grow up in the same house as where your parents are living now? Is it that you have just adapted yourself more to the apartment-type environment? Maybe what is bothering you is the insecure feeling of knowing that you are farther away from people. From civilization?
No… I didn’t grow up in their house. In fact, I’ve never lived there. They moved back to my mom’s hometown several years ago. I’ve never lived in that town let alone their house.
I guess I just don’t care for the silence. I’ve become accustomed to the sounds of roads, cars, helicopters, and the karaoke bar across the street.
Wolves and crickets just don’t cut it. Haha.
What about rustling trees? Do they freak you out?? I don’t know how how people find that sound relaxing…
I don’t actually mind rustling trees. In fact, I quite enjoy rustling leaves and a soft windchime. I just don’t like being able to hear the grass grow. That’s when I start getting freaked out.