I was telling a good friend this past weekend how, as I’ve gotten older, I’ve started to realize how sensitive I am to noise. Maybe it’s because I have three kids with big personalities (read: three LOUD kids) and I crave quiet time or maybe it’s because our world is getting louder in general?

I’ve found myself driving without the radio on when I’m alone. Or working in complete silence (even stopping to turn off a far-off television)... and really enjoying the Headspace app.

So yesterday, I made a list of all the noise (good noise: like my little ones talking... and not-so-good noise: like crazy commercials on the radio) in my life in an attempt to identify noise I can turn down, change, or turn off. I identified noise that was actual audible noise and noise that was just... noisy in the sense that it was information or thought coming at me out of nowhere (anxiety, junk mail, spam email, texts, etc). Here is my list: My morning alarm. Anxiety running through my head. Radio. Television. Other people talking. Mail. Email. Texts. Phone calls. Social media scrolling.

I made a conscious decision to unfollow about 200 people / pages on social media, unsubscribe from as many email lists as I could (from the past wk), switched my alarm back to the “bedtime mode” (iPhone), and blocked a few solicitor numbers that constantly called me. I also decided to savor those quiet drives in the car. :) My car is almost never quiet when I have my family with me, so why not.

Turning down the noise (and proactively filtering the information we allow into our heads and hearts) creates margin and calm in our lives. And it’s relatively easy to do. Ahhh. I’ll take more of this stuff please. ❤️

xo,
Emily