Silence
I love silence—not deafening silence, just relaxed silence. I like the Sunday morning kind of quietness. It’s nice when it’s quiet at home and you can only hear a few cars driving by, birds singing, maybe a few voices in the distance. That’s the nice kind of silence.
Many people don’t like silence. Are they the same people who can’t leave their phones alone for five minutes because they hate boredom?
I remember reading a cool book, ‘Lullaby’ by Chuck Palahniuk (the same guy who wrote ‘Fight Club’) and it comments on how people hate silence and love noise. Think about it, people spend a fortune on music, TV streaming services, and fast internet connections so they can watch some random BS on YouTube. People always want to be entertained or listen to music when doing something – it’s like they’re afraid to just be alone with their thoughts.
What I like about silence is that it gives you time to think. You can think about anything, just let your mind wander. I once read in a book that if you’re struggling with a problem, sometimes the thing that can help you the most is to just sit and stare out a window for a few minutes. In layperson’s terms, it gives your brain some time to buffer so that you can think straight.
Plus, a daily dose of silence is essential for an introvert like me. It helps me to recharge.
Awkward silences
Then there are awkward silences, which I hate because they are just so awkward. Someone once told me as a joke that whenever there is an awkward silence, you think about George Bush. When I tell people this, it actually creates an awkward silence…
Anyway, the point I was trying to get to was that if you can sit in total silence with a friend without it being awkward, that is a genuine friend. Then you have broken the silence barrier of your friendship.
I hate it when people ask me why I’m being so quiet. What a shitty question. I either have nothing to say, or I’m just enjoying listening to you crazy people, or I zoned out. It’s probably one of those.
In future when someone asks me why I’m so quiet I’ll just say, “Because I’m full of hate!” Because if you’re going to ask me a shitty question, I’m going to give a shitty answer. Sorry, not sorry.
Semi-unrelated: I zone out a lot. Like a lot—to the point where I’m getting concerned about it. Do you remember that movie, ‘The secret life of Walter Mitty’? I’m exactly like that.
So because I zone out so easily, I’ve found that playing neutral music while I’m working helps immensely. There are thousands of tracks on YouTube to help you focus.
Lastly
I can’t be the only one who feels like this. If you share a love of silence, speak out (wow, that’s an ironic sentence) and comment below.
Silence is golden.
Michelle
P.S. If you’d like to contact me, feel free to comment below, send an email to thatmichelleperson@gmail.com, or follow me on Twitter @M_ClutterBox.
Vourneen
I quite like silence too! I remember going on a hike with my friend before (she knows she talks a lot). I was enjoying being out in nature and she was chatting away, on and on. Eventually she said ‘you’re very quiet’ and I had to tell her that she hadn’t stopped talking since we started! She said she doesn’t like awkward silences and I said it wouldn’t be awkward cos we’re friends!
That Michelle Person
I totally agree! It’s not awkward if you’re friends, you’re just giving each other some room to breath.
Thanks for reading and commenting 🙂