Life can be loud. One must make a conscious choice each and every day to lean in towards the quiet instead of being tossed around by the noise. And that seems to be getting more difficult by the day. Everything is designed to grab our attention whether it’s flashing colours, clickbait headlines, or music playing everywhere. Every time we open an app, turn on the tv, or visit a website, we have 500 things vying for our attention.
As an introvert, and a highly sensitive one at that, my energy is my currency, and it is limited. I simply cannot afford to spend it on things that I don’t enjoy or that don’t serve some sort of purpose in my life. And I have spent too much time in my life in that place we call burnout, I’d really rather not visit it again for a while — or ever.
I have been able to create a fairly quiet and simple life for myself in recent years. One where I get to move slowly and where I choose the noise that is worth some of my precious energy and disregard the rest.
Until quite recently, I have been able to balance my desire for quiet while still showing up online and on social media. When I first began to shift my life to what it is now, I recognized that being a self-employed creative was the route I wanted to take. It would allow me to work from home, at my own pace, in my own way. But there is a necessary compromise that comes with this path, and that is that I must show up online.
And online isn’t always conducive to the slow, simple, quiet ways in which I feel my best. Well, maybe it once was, but it is quickly becoming more difficult to find spaces that support this. This is what I’ve realized lately — my life is beginning to feel hurried again, it’s starting to feel a bit loud for my taste.
I notice this because I feel uninspired more often, I find that I am comparing myself to others more, I am tired, I feel distracted, and I know I am spending far too many hours with my eyes glued to my phone.
I think that’s one reason why I’m returning to writing and why I’m even here on this platform now. I am searching for those quiet spaces again.
For those spaces that foster connection and community.
For those spaces where I can even potentially support myself better financially.
And especially for those spaces where there are fewer algorithms and posting demands.
It is too easy to let ourselves be swept along in the flow of others, sometimes it happens without us even realizing — until we end up somewhere we no longer recognize feeling frazzled and out of sorts.
Choosing quiet is something we must do often. That slow and soft life that will have us feeling our best requires decisions, sometimes hard ones.
I read these words the other day, which hit the nail on the head.
“A reminder that life may never ‘slow down’ without you actively taking steps to change how much you commit to. Some of it is ‘life’ and some of it is you.”
— Yasmine Cheyenne
There is much in life we cannot control or change. Things happen and sometimes all we can do is navigate as best we can, hopefully with our values kept in mind. But much of our own lives, we can change.
We can choose quiet. We can choose slow. We can choose simple. We can choose soft.
So, here is a gentle reminder, for myself as well as anyone who needs it, it’s okay to choose again and again. We may get influenced and find ourselves on another path entirely. We may get swept away, weeks later opening our eyes to the realization that our life has become full of distractions and noise. The beautiful thing about life is that we can make a different decision and try again.
And so here I am with my eyes open again — choosing to return to quiet.