I’ve already pointed out that I have no ability to withstand the relentless drumbeat of repetitive noise. Tonight, it struck me that that’s really the least of it. I’ve thought off and on about that yap lap dog all day [quiet so far this evening], and I realized that lots of noises bother me. I kept hearing sirens on the way home. I work pretty much equidistant from Vanderbilt, the Baptist/Centennial complex and St. Thomas, so there are sirens all around every day. But there were also a lot in East Nashville this evening. All ambulances. They just stress me out. [Believe me, I know I'm a lot less stressed than the people in the ambulance. I'm just saying, they get to me.]
Tonight I walked outside to get something from the car, and for a couple moments, it was perfectly still and quiet. Summer-evening muggy. Crickets. [I like crickets.] I could even see a few stars, between my patio roof, and the two houses up the hill and the next street over from me. I thought briefly about going to sit out on the patio, but I decided against it. I really like my house — I can see in my mind what it will look like when I’m done with it — but as a friend of mine once said, getting here is like driving through East Nashville to the suburbs. A couple blocks back from me, the historic area ends abruptly and you enter the land of real yards and ranch houses. I love living here in the middle of the city, but when it’s still and quiet, it just makes me realize how much I’d prefer to be in the middle of nowhere, in so many ways.
So I came back inside, and shortly thereafter I started hearing something like cellophane rustling. I thought at first it was coming from the other room, where the dog was lolling around. It’s not like her to get into anything, but I went to check anyway because it kept rustling, every few minutes. I searched all around her on the floor….nothing that could make noise. I sat back down. I heard more rustling. I got up and turned on more lights, looked again. Nothing. I finally decided it was either a June beetle, one of those orange bugs that attack your windows at night in the summer, or a wasp. And as much as I don’t like the beetles, I really, really hate wasps, so I had to know what it was. It took me forever, but I finally found the beetle stuck in the track for the sliding door. Thank goodness. I hate those things.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
About a year ago, I read A Book of Jewish Values by Rabbi Telushkin… it’s a great read, definitely worth the methodical way you need to receive it. One of the first lessons encourages prayer whenever you hear an ambulance siren. What a different place the world would be if, instead of being annoyed by having to pull over to the side of the road by an ambulance roaring by, we all took a breath to offer some hope that the person inside the ambulance got the care he or she needed in time.
It’s a small thing that, for the stress monkey on my back, has actually made a big difference. We choose between focusing on the (annoyance, stress, inconvenience, hostility, worry, fear, etc) that the ambulance causes, or we can focus on the human inside.
I’m not responding to your stress per se, but your post reminded me of my own and I thought I’d share. You’d love that book, btw.
You are so right…this is a rather loud neighborhood to live in, with the sirens and helicopters and interstate noise. I don’t notice it as much as I used to…maybe I’m somewhat immune. It is going to be weird when we move to Bellevue. We were out in front of our new house one evening last week, and it was so quiet. And because it is a dead end street, we could even stand in the middle of the road without fear. What a change.
CMcT, that book sounds really interesting. I’m going to try that lesson next time I hear a siren.