Tuesday, April 11, 2017

Excessive Noise


Our daughter's book, "It's Okay About It", is coming out in a few weeks (it's available for preorder; click the title). She finds inspiration for daily life in the unique, sweet phrases our grandson uses to express himself in our neurotypical world. 

"It's too loud my ears!" is how he lets everyone know that the environment is overstimulating. He's exquisitely sensitive to noisy activity from all over the room. 

Since November's election I've been avidly following the political news. My Facebook feed is a continuous drum of environmental disaster. Additionally, it's always got at least one (usually more) awful photo of some kind of animal neglect and abuse, and of suffering, dying refugees or Syrian citizens. My inbox is full of petition requests, updates from my Senators, and desperate pleas for donations from my favorite environmental groups. 

And so a few weeks ago it became "Too Loud My Ears!!!" - and I just had to avoid the computer for awhile. Oh, I still check the headlines, but for five minutes instead of fifty. Facebook - ditto. I give Instagram and my blog roll a quick scan every few days. Blogging went by the wayside. "Who's going to care about a cute dog pic while kids are being gassed" - a cartoon of me would have had a giant black cloud over my head!

Taking this break helped. So did the true arrival of Spring:

Smelling the lilacs...


Shopping for flowers...


And planting them...

Watching the birds build their nests, then knowing where they have hidden them, like this mama Cardinal...

Listening to the hum of bees in the crabapple blossoms...


And noticing the many kinds and sizes of bees...

Watching the emergence of tender plants into our world...

As bright, tiny leaves unfold.
Of course it's important to be involved in the world. Of course we can't pretend everything is fine. But for awhile there it was just "too loud my ears." It was time to turn down the volume for a bit.

10 comments:

  1. I will look for your daughter's book and give it a shout out on Twitter. I know too well how nerve-racking those first days after publication are. Congratulations to her.

    ReplyDelete
  2. This has been a very stressful End to WINTER and Start of Spring... butt now that it is FINALLY here we can all STOP to smell the Furst Flowers...and start to feel better...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That is true - we are even getting a little taste of summer this week with temps in the 80's :)

      Delete
  3. Sometimes a dog or flower picture are a nice break from all the bad news.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You are so very right. Focusing only on the bad is not healthy.

      Delete
  4. Ordered and dropped her a note to let her know I will let others know about it. You should be very proud of her.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Wow, thank you for pre-ordering and for telling others about Lauren's book. Her Dad and I are so very proud of her accomplishment and of the wonderful people she (and her siblings) have grown up to become.

      Delete
  5. Congrats to your daughter on her book!

    And I hear you on needing a break. I have to limit my news intake these days - one can only take so much. And limit my Facebook access as well. :) Cute dog pictures are always welcome! :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Huge congratulations to your daughter! You have one talented family!!!! DakotasDen

    ReplyDelete

We love to know what you have to meow, bow-wow, growl, or just plain howl. Leave a comment for us!

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...