I had a comically bad day yesterday, like dropping things, almost lost my keys down the drain on the sidewalk, spilled soup at the store near a makeup section, almost tore my pants, got back from the store only to find out I was out of TP, etc.
It was more funny than anything else, like so much random trivial bad luck in one day is like something out of some 90s Tom Hanks comedy.
But there was one thing that actually annoyed me - on my way back from the store on my grocery trip, my phone suddenly went from a healthy 7% to 0% and died. I was stuck with no music for the remainder of the walk back.
Soooo I was forced to listen to the sound of well - nothing at all basically.
Just birds chirping, wind blowing, leaves rustling, all as I walked the same path I walk all the time and see the same things I’ve seen hundreds of times, just waiting to get home.
Don’t get me wrong I love where I live and everything, it’s a really cool city with good pedestrian infrastructure, I almost never even get close to a car and it’s not some smelly euro village either, but seeing the same things I’ve already seen and having no stimuli at all, it wasn’t that big a deal but it was unpleasant.
That got me thinking - I sometimes see folks not wearing earphones outside, and I’ve heard on more than one occasion from some acquaintances that they don’t listen to music outside, and I wonder - why’s that?
Why would you choose to do that?
And, what do y’all like, do, exactly? How do you deal with the monotony of your grocery trips or things like that when you don’t even have music on? Do you just never get bored of walking the same roads/neighborhoods w/e day after day?
Obviously I do, I don’t get why you spun what I said into hyperbole. But what do you do after you’ve experienced the surroundings, and now have to experience them again, and again, and again?
Honestly y’all must be kinda boring people if you’re happy just staring off into nothingness doing nothing at all, just left foot right foot like some kinda robot to and fro on the daily.
My own thoughts and inspirations come to me most often in the quiet times. I like saying hello to the birds. If I feel exhausted, I count my footsteps like you would music. 1234, 2234, 3234, 4234, and so on. I like hearing the winds, the trees crack as they sway, the squirrels hunting their forage. I listen out for other voices, and enjoy feeling connected to the rest of the world, a desire driven by isolation and loneliness, rarely do I find that sense of community in a podcast. The old man who walks my neighborhood every morning, does not have in headphones, he waves and smiles to every passerby, sometimes, his simple gesture, is the only kind/happy moment of my day.
People are different, it may be boring for you, but my ADD keeps my brain busy, and my CPTSD has me want to hear my surroundings vividly. I jump scare very easily, to avoid that, I use the power of, hearing one coming. I know I’m boring, but I don’t think it’s because I don’t listen to stuff while walking. Nothingness carries something within it, the interpretation only being found by the self. And to note, when I was younger I always had music. Things have just changed with age, it’s shocking I know, but as time moves, I want to slow it down, and appreciate everything I can. I crave quiet more than ever.
My husband is completely different, and more like you, where he spends most of his waking hours listening to podcasts and such. People are different, and that doesn’t make one better than the other.
You don’t have to tear others down, to make yourself feel better. I could call you a robot (hypothetically, I’m not, do you) for putting in your headphones like everyone else does. I’m on our states University campus kind of often. The amount of young people with headphones in, eye on screens, even as they get their meals or cross the street, is very odd to see for me. It honestly feels a bit like culture shock everytime I am up there. They walk into staff without looking or apologizing, and if you people watch for an hour or so, you’ll notice the majority plug themselves in. While I don’t think one is better than the other, it’s just different process. I find it amusing you call the ones who unplug robots however. We used to clown of people who had Bluetooth ear pieces in the early 00’s, it was the universal sign someone was a douche. Now everyone has airpods and the like. White socks, white shoes, white earbuds, head down in screen, it’s the standard look at the university by me.
It’s just amusing to see how things have changed in 25 years, from bluetooth sales douches, to today being called a robot for not plugging in, and instead paying attention to one’s environment out and about.
I like day dreaming, talking to people I bump into while I’m about, hearing the buzz of people in a pub garden, the music playing in people’s cars as they drive past. I like these things, it makes me feel connected to the place I live. It’s also good to just let your mind wander without constant stimulation.
I absolutely daydream and let my mind wander. That is precisely why I listen to music. Obviously the brain requires stimulation, or we wouldn’t have a multi-billion dollar entertainment industry and the arts nor science nor literature nor much of anything really.
I personally would derive no stimulation from hearing what racist crap some grampa is shouting down at the pub, nor talking to some random about nothing with whom I have nothing in common.
The Stoics would say you actually shouldn’t seek constant mental stimulation, because letting your brain just “be”, and sitting with boredom, is actually incredibly beneficial for creativity and personal growth. I do have to ask though, as what you’re describing is so relatable and I used to be the same way as you until I taught myself to let my brain relax; is it possible you have ADHD?
You can’t say with certainty that you’d derive no stimulation from that, since you have not tried deriving stimulation from it.
The multi-billion dollar entertainment industry isn’t there because we need it. It’s there because we like it. What we need is to connect with the real world, which is a skill, and as such requires practice.
Don’t listen to them. I have severe adhd. Like they have me in training videos back when I was a kid.
I spend all day everyday with an earbud in my ear. I don’t really like music so it’s podcasts all day everyday.
You can absolutely experience life fully like this. I walk more than anyone I know. I can point out stars in the sky and how the andromeda galaxy would look in the sky. I watch birds, I walk on the beach every night.
And other times I just let my mind wonder wherever it goes. I think about my day, the people I care about, how I can do more and better.
I do it all with an earbud in my ear. Only one, but always one.
Don’t let people tell you how to live.
Yeah I have ADHD too, professionally diagnosed and medicated, but even all the NTs I know don’t just drool off into nothingness, this thread is eye-opening honestly.
It’s not drooling off no more than you’re spacing out in music. It’s just life.