In Search of Silence

Mountain stillness. I shot this from atop Mount Philo near my house in Vermont.

Life is noisy. Phones ring, notifications beep, and many of us wear headphones, blocking out unwanted noise with different noise. 

Now imagine, in addition to the external noise, you can hear your eyelids moving each time you blink and you constantly hear your telltale heart beating loudly and blood whooshing in your head. Each footfall when you walk is jarringly loud as you struggle to maintain balance and fear people will think you are drunk. Your own voice echoes and sounds distorted to you when you speak. You hear things as if you are at a heavy metal concert, 24/7, but paradoxically you cannot hear the person speaking to you from 6 feet away because of your conductive hearing loss.

It can be isolating.

My first paragraph is about life in the 21st century.

My second paragraph is about my “minor" symptoms in a life with SSCD.

I’m not looking for sympathy.

I seek stillness.

There is much to discover in silence.