A very Thankful deaf Friday

Today is thankful Friday. It's been a while since I've done one of these blogs. Or indeed blogged at all.

I've not been on top DG form if I'm honest.

But that's life isn't it. And that doesn't mean there's nothing to be thankful for.

So today I'm thankful that despite getting soaked on my morning commute today, the sun has now come out. Albeit with a few menacing clouds in the sky threatening to turn my hair into a frizzy mess once again.

Today I'm having a quiet day. My hearing aids are in a box in my handbag as I haven't got any meetings and the office is empty for a variety of reasons. I'm loving it. If I sit very still, I can hear the faint low hum of the air conditioning – usually a massive sound with hearing aids – and apart from that, just the door shutting as people go up and down the corridor. 

I can't hear voices at all. There are no voices. Although perhaps it's because it's lunchtime and everyone is outside lapping up what vitamin D they can get.

I know that my keyboard is probably making a terrible tapping sound but I can't hear it. I know that all around me there is quite possibly a gaggle of phones all ringing to be answered. But I can't hear them. I know that outside my office there is likely to be a blue-lighted vehicle with its siren blaring passing by every few minutes, but I can't hear them either.

It's wonderfully quiet.

Some days I need that quiet. I need it because I'm still not used to having all this sound in my life. I still find it overwhelming. I still find it exciting. But often I find it utterly exhausting.

How do hearing people cope with all this noise day in day out?

Is it exhausting for them?

And what is it about sound that I find so utterly overwhelming?

As a child, I hated fireworks. They hurt my ears. The bangs were so loud they made me cry.

Crying as a result of loud noises was a natural reflex for me. When people shouted down my ears, I cried. When anything loud happened, I cried. It was as though my body didn't know how else to process this massive sound overload.

But thankfully I grew out of that.

However, recently I've felt a lot like crying. The noise on the bus. The noise on the tube. The noise in the tourist-tastic areas of central London. The general hustle and bustle of the city. The shouting from the downstairs flat, the clamour of the TV, the radio, the sirens, the motorbikes. It's all just got too much.

So on this Thankful Friday, I'm thankful that I've got the option to make it go away. I can take my hearing aids out. I can put them in a box. I can put those thoughts and feelings in a box too and I can get back to the important things in life. In my life.

Wishing you a wonderful Thankful Friday peeps.

DG

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