Are You Missing All the Noise Yet?

Missing the noise? At first, things became noticeably quieter… and they stayed quiet for some time. Now I’m missing some of the familiar noises. Can you relate or is it just me?

Have you noticed? The world is getting noisier again.

You might be thinking, “When was it ever not noisy?” But the world did manage to get noticeably quieter and stayed that way for most of the spring.

We’ll classify that as one of the welcome by-products of the lockdown. There were more than a few of them if we take the time to think about it.

Noise is a complicated beast…

The problem is, we’re not getting the kind of noise we want.

Our world serves up all different flavors of noise. Some of it is energizing. Much of it is simply obnoxious. Yes, I’m talking to you leaf blowers!

So, what kind of noise do you actually miss? Concerts? Sporting events? Jet airplanes? Big celebrations? And what do you consider as good noise?

Honestly, I’m still appreciating those, less rare—quiet moments.

While a quieter world has been nice, some noise comes with a certain brand of energy.

Here’s an outrageous sound bite, “People like to go out to eat at restaurants not only for the food and community, but also for the noise.” Really? How can they know that?

Of course, a common survey response would never be… “Uh, I like to go to restaurants for the noise.” It’s one of those things that behavioral economists have discovered and proved through various studies.

Yes, we humans are a strange lot!

This is the simple reason why so many restaurants are so freakin’ noisy… especially the big chains. Thank God we’re still blessed with some of the quiet, romantic spots.

And get this, studies show we eat more in noisy venues too. Go figure.

Here’s another noise bonus for the industry—Once we’ve filled our little tum-tums and begin to slow down, we start to notice the noise again.

And it makes us tired and ready to leave… making space for the next group of noise hungry munchers. Crazy, isn’t it?

So, if your spirits are starting to lag, consider grabbing coffee and dessert at the café down the street and taking a nice relaxing stroll before the noise completely wipes you out for the evening.

The thing is, not all noise is bad noise and noise is a part of many of the activities we’re missing in a big way.

So, what can we do until the good noise returns?

Good question. We still have a few options—

• First, while we still have them, embrace and seek-out quiet time and places… often!
• Go for a smaller scale. Until we get this opening-up thing right, smaller everything will be a good bet.
• Be acutely aware of obnoxious, energy-draining noise and protect your attention from digital noise.
• Get comfortable with the idea of finding a different groove for a while.
• Take this opportunity to fully recharge your batteries… they’ve been running on empty for far too long.

We’ll get there. The good noise will find its way back soon enough.

Until then, be untucked.

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