Noise. It's everywhere.
Songs blare in the background as we attempt to find everything on our shopping list in an over-busy supermarket. Trains and tubes clatter and whoosh as they arrive at each station. Household appliances switch on and off, rumble, swish, and hum.
Some noise doesn't make a sound... but can still be so loud.
Little red notifications that taunt us, constantly. Adverts fighting for our attention. Videos, articles, think pieces, statuses, blogs, podcasts, petitions…
All of this is on top of the noise directed specifically at us.
Kids who want to make sure we're aware that they're bored. Family members or flatmates delivering different requests. Work meetings, health appointments, payment reminders, forms to fill in, therapy sessions…the list goes on.
Noise. From everywhere. All the flippin' time.
This noise can fill us up. It can make it feel as though we have black white 'out of signal' static in place of our brain. We can't think properly We want to scream; to tell everyone to give us some space. A life"out of office", would be handy, to give us some time to catch up with everything.
We might feel trapped.
Claustrophobic.
As though each bit of noise steals a little bit of the air around us, making it hard to breathe.
We might be extra snappy, anxious, and irritable. But when we do snap, we feel guilty.
Because we don't want to take our "stuff" out on others.
It's incredibly exhausting.
We might not have the energy to cope with any of it. We can't consider our options properly because our brain is full of fuzz.
So, we keep firefighting. Without the brain space to think things through, we just react.
We keep telling ourselves that it will calm down soon.
It has to. We've just got to get through this week... it will be calmer once we've finished that 'thing' or when we've been to that appointment… But calmer never comes. ‘I just need to get through this week' becomes a weekly thought.
The truth is, we can't keep going like this indefinitely.
It's not sustainable.
On some level, we know that, even if we have no idea what to do about it.
It's a lot right now, this life thing. Lots of us feel one problem away from imploding. There are big challenges regularly coming our way.
When everything gets like this, sometimes the best thing we can do is to stop.
Pause.
Breathe.
That might seem like the worst possible idea when we have 5697 jobs to do, noise from every angle, and we're so frazzled we've frizzled our way to being utterly frozzled.
But sometimes it's all we've got.
We do not have to respond to everything right away (or at all).
We do not have to say 'yes' to every request.
We do not have to run ourselves into the ground trying to please others.
We do not have to be 'going' or 'doing' every moment of every day.
We do not have to pick up other people's slack, no matter how many favours they've done for us in the past.
We are allowed to take what we need. You are allowed to take what you need.
You matter, your well-being matters, and you are just one human being.
You might be the most utterly amazing superhuman in the world ever (we reckon you're pretty ace), but you can still get overwhelmed. It can still get too much.
Pause for a moment, wherever you are.
Let the noise fade for a second.
Catch your breath.
Take a couple of deep breaths.
Let the noise settle around you.
Keep breathing until the fuzzy-buzzy white noise has calmed down a little.
Take the time you need to regroup.
In the words of Morgan Harper Nichols:
"You are worth the quiet moment. You are worth the deeper breath. You are worth the time it takes to slow down, be still and rest."
Source: https://www.blurtitout.org