How to Step Away from Too Much Noise in the Head

I love listening to audiobooks and the radio. Friends recommend podcasts and music. There is so much fantastic creativity and content all sitting just a click away, waiting to be discovered. There are not enough hours in the day to do your work and enjoy these marvels. So, for the last few months, I followed the clever advice of a self-help book and combined „tasks“. Like so many good things, it couldn’t last!

So, I would walk the dog and call friends. Hang the laundry while listening to podcasts and so on. I loved it. Never have I covered more ground! Suddenly, I had listened to so many amazing stories and books. I am up to date with bestsellers and good reads.

All fun, but…

But, recently, I noticed that I felt tired to my bones. And so tired in my head. It dawned on me: by blasting my head non-stop with content dense voices, I left no space to process what I had heard as well as my own mediocre ramblings. Truthfully, my own thoughts are not half as entertaining as a witty podcast and far less intriguing than a well told story.

Head – unplugged

However today, as I walked the dog, I consciously unplugged the headphones and simply „wasted“ my time by thinking nothing. I did not catch up with friends or bounced to an uplifting playlist. I simply trotted along, staring at my path, the dog, hills and mud.

I wish I could report to you that I had this sudden revelation. (How to bring peace to the Middle East? How to solve the hydrogen dilemma? How to avert dementia?) Sadly, nothing useful popped up.

But, I arrived home feeling satisfyingly calm. As if to slowly blink at the grey sky, brown trees and snowy fields was a much needed bank holiday for my head.

I am a bit disappointed, that my greedy media consumption needs to take a break. I had so much fun. But it seems that at least I need more balance of unfilled space than the self-help advertised. I wonder if that means, that my to-do list is ever growing in length and my „you need to listen to this“-list will stay unattainable, but I acknowledge that my head needs to be unplugged from all noise. Even guided meditation. Or profound advice. Simply silence.

Keep it light!

It might be tempting to stack yet another rule on already full days like „Keep an hour for unplugged time!“ or „Get rid of your podcast subscriptions!“, but that would add to the noise in my head. Instead, I will hope to remind myself to allow silence to stretch and take hold: as a useful and beautiful thing all in itself.

So, for me, today will be a fluffy cloud day: brain detox, head slimming, slow-thought-regiment. Already the thought of this cheers me up!