Did you start enjoying silence even more as you age?

r/

Did you start enjoying silence more as you got older? I’m only 25, but I find myself liking silence more and more, and maybe just listening to the sound of birds and nothing else.

Comments

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  2. FOAD1951 Avatar

    Silence is beautiful, started enjoying it when I had my children. Got up at least 2 hours before they did just to enjoy it. Now I enjoy it listening to the sound of a wind, rain falling, birds waves lapping on the beach. It is rejuvenating and good for the soul.

  3. elaine4queen Avatar

    Yeah, I kind of went off music and also stopped listening to or watching live broadcast media.

  4. catdude142 Avatar

    “Silence is deafening”. 🙂

    I do seek out restaurants that don’t have blaring music and “sports on TV”. They’re rare it seems.

  5. Slick-62 Avatar

    I have severe tinnitus. There is no silence to enjoy.

  6. travelling-lost Avatar

    57M, I spend all day dealing with noise, outside of work I rarely have the radio on, at night I’d rather crash and play Candy Crush than watch tv. I often even find myself muting the radio during the day and just listening to the road noise. I never understood why my grandparents never had the radio on in the car, or if it was on it was super low, in the last 5 years I’ve learned to enjoy the quiet.

  7. nickalit Avatar

    Yes. Especially since retirement. It’s so peaceful. The tv is rarely on, the radio is NPR for a hour or two, sometimes I listen to my music. But often yes, it’s the quiet.

  8. neoprenewedgie Avatar

    I know this blows Gen Z’s mind but I can walk down the street without wearing ear buds! I can even drive a car without listening to music or a podcast.

  9. Optimal_Life_1259 Avatar

    I’ve always enjoyed silence and being alone. I love hearing the earth breath especially in nature.

  10. challam Avatar

    Silence & solitude are the best parts of my life, except for contact with my kids.

  11. kermitsfrogbog Avatar

    I definitely prefer silence. Constant noise makes me feel agitated after a while. Listening to birds and nature is far superior to blaring music. Especially someone else’s music.

  12. wegekucharz Avatar

    Yes, very much so. I grew up in a forest, left loud music & parties behind at 19, never owned a tv, and never wore headphones of any kind in public or in nature. The first property I bought was located in a quiet park by a small river & a waterfall, while my forever home is again in a deciduous forest, with a water bird pond with small breeding islands nearby. Peace & quiet, rustling leaves and birds all around me. Peace at home too, which is even more important. A sanctuary for a tired person.

  13. jay-dit-on Avatar

    Yes, very much. I even sit with the lights turned off and think about things. Very entertaining trying to remember every single person one has met, trying to remember their names and even considering some remarkable one off encounters, like the guy who kept saying to himself over and over again: Never stay at the same place for too long.

  14. WarmManufacturer5632 Avatar

    Yes I love silence – but it seems people can’t stand too much silence, I like to go to the spoken Mass because there are periods of silence but one our our priests insists on filling the silence with ghastly choruses. Silence is as important in framing our experiences as the what we fill those experiences with, we need periods of reflection and ‘rest’ for our minds.

  15. Recynd2 Avatar

    Noise hurts my soul.

  16. chocolateandpretzles Avatar

    My husband is a chatterbox. Our kids are grown and our house is always full of people. I. Love. Silence. I love being alone. It’s so rare that I am.

  17. Plus-King5266 Avatar

    Ohhhh, the comments I should not make.

    Yes, I enjoy silence more each year.

  18. my_clever-name Avatar

    Yes, just the tinnitus and me.

  19. OrilliaBridge Avatar

    I remember when I was in my early forties, coming home and noticing the silence. I always used to have music or the television on, but for some reason the silence felt very comforting. I still enjoy silence sometimes.

  20. Ok-Afternoon-3724 Avatar

    I always enjoyed silence more than otherwise. One of my favorite things … always … has been being alone in the woods and watching/listening to the critters. Standing on a shore with no sound but the birds and the fish and the lapping of waves. And so forth.

    I was one who avoided the crowded and noisy places. Might visit one for short time, but almost every time, after a half hour passed, you would have seen me ducked out of the place.

    But, yes, I have even less tolerance for loud noises and too much going on and hopping around me.

    BUT … the biggest thing I’ve noticed is a distaste for drama. I have grown to absolutely hate it.

  21. Wibblywobblywalk Avatar

    Yes. I don’t get why people have to have their music on to enjoy a park, beach etc..

  22. MisterKIAA Avatar

    yes, an i can remove my cochlear implant and ignore everything

  23. Abarth-ME-262 Avatar

    lol NO, lost my hearing at 63 and still can’t hear myself bitch!

  24. schweddybalczak Avatar

    Absolutely. I very rarely have anything on in my vehicle anymore. I also often leave the tv off for most of the day. The background noise annoys me.

    The only downside of silence is my horrible case of tinnitus. I always hear the ringing but it’s worse in silence.

  25. MissAnthrope56 Avatar

    Silence and solitude. I don’t have enough of it.

  26. squirrelcat88 Avatar

    Yes!!! I’m 62 and I want silence most of the time when I’m by myself.

  27. ZimMcGuinn Avatar

    Nope. That’s when the tinnitus gets loud. I need noise to drown out the constant crickets.

  28. Lovemybee Avatar

    No!

    I was a teenager in the 70s! I like loud rock and roll music, the loud engine of my hot rod Mustang, the sounds of my granddaughters shrieking and laughing and playing, a baseball game on the television playing loudly in the background, our goofy dogs barking/playing with each other, our cats yelling at us that they haven’t eaten in FOREVER, friends/family talking loudly to each other from different parts of the house…

    Something I learned in nursing school: healthy children are LOUD! I also think healthy families/friends are loud. I want to hear the sounds of life around me!!!

    There will be time for quiet when I’m dead.

  29. CarefulAdvice3739 Avatar

    I can’t get enough of silence. Really enjoyed it when I was young. I’d drive into the mountains just to get away from all the noise. Nothing like the sound of the warm breeze through the pine trees. Now it’s loud exhaust, screeching tires, thumping stereos, loud neighbors…. it sucks.

  30. auld-guy Avatar

    I’m 66. And it’s not so much the noise, but the people making it. I find I much more enjoy my alone time. No talking, no judging.

  31. 4Ozonia Avatar

    I’m a fan of quiet and the sound of nature. Maybe it’s a matter of age, maybe it’s a result of these times of multitasking and so many sources of noise.

  32. Rogerdodger1946 Avatar

    I am a big fan of quiet time. My wife, on the other hand, has to have the TV on most of the time for background noise if nothing else. Fortunately, our house is pretty well sound isolated between areas so it works pretty well. If I am home alone, the TV is never on.