I Often Avoid Being Quiet

March 19, 2012 in Creativity, Dreams, Life, Quick Reads, Uncategorized with 17 Comments

Photo by Adrian Bugariu (Creative Commons)

I often avoid being quiet.

I usually prefer a space filled with noise.

I try to avoid anywhere I can be exposed.

I think of things when it is quiet.

I don’t want you to know what I really think.

I don’t want you to know the real me.

I doubt you would like me.

So I often avoid being quiet.

 

Do you feel the same way or have you learned to embrace the quiet and not run from it?

 

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  • http://twitter.com/tdiddy1234 Todd Foley

    I avoid being quiet until I feel that a legitimate breakdown is just around the corner. Going into silence is the only way for me to face what’s going on and refill in order to pour out again. It helps me to normalize whatever is going on in my head. Great post, Jim.

    • http://unknownjim.com/ Jim Woods

      I can totally relate Todd. Part of it for me is that I don’t know my own limits. I overdue it, and then face the consequences. Thank you so much for the kind words. 

    • Yvette Carol

      ‘A legitimate breakdown’ ha, love it!! Don’t we all avoid it Todd? Until we can’t hold on to the edges anymore and then we have to let go, and get sucked in to the silence…

  • Yvette Carol

    I spent the first 25 years of my life strenuously avoiding the quiet. To put it mildly I was a party animal, day & night, anytime of the day or night. And Jim since you so eloquently put what most people never say, then I shall say what I usually would never say (I’ve only ever shared this with one other person, my sister). I had a ‘waking up’ experience, what PJ Reece would call ‘a mini enlightenment’ that changed everything in my life. It happened in a nightclub. In the wee hours of the morning. I stood at the edge of the dancefloor, I remember it with crystal clarity as if it were now, the music was pumping. I was smiling, sipping a whiskey. Then it was as if I stood inside myself. I was on the edge of deeep, dark well that went down endlessly. I called out my own name. “Yvette!” spiralled down and down into the well, but nothing answered me. It was horrifying. I did not ‘know’ myself, I had not developed anything real or meaningful about myself. The “Yvette” I walked around in was nothing but a shell. When I came back to the nightclub I looked around and it could never be the same for me there, I knew it. I put down my drink (unfinished!) and walked out. Never looked back. I stopped drinking, stopped partying, stopped all the noise that had so successfully kept me from myself. That was the beginning of my journey of seeking to ‘know myself’….
    Yvette Carol

    • http://unknownjim.com/ Jim Woods

      Wow. That’s quite the story Yvette! I can totally picture that entire scene. Thank you for sharing. I’m so glad you never looked back and began your journey of seeking to know yourself. 

  • http://sayable.net/ Lore Ferguson

    I am every one of those. Almost all the time. 

    • unknownjim

      Thanks for sharing. Obviously I can relate with that really well ;)

  • http://rebootingworship.com/ Jamie Kocur

    “I try to avoid anywhere I can be exposed.” Great line.

    Funny, I’m a really quiet person and I relish being alone, but I’m not usually quiet. There’s something usually there to distract me.

    • unknownjim

      Thanks! I know what you mean about always keeping busy.

  • http://twitter.com/croyseniles Christine Niles

    I cherish the silence of being alone exactly because there is no risk of exposure or judgement from others.

    Quiet in the presence of another?  Terrifying. this is beautiful.

    • http://unknownjim.com/ Jim Woods

      Thanks so much Christine!!! 

  • Sindy

    1 Peter 5:6-11
    Isaiah 40:31
    Psalm 46:10
    Psalm 107:29

    • http://unknownjim.com/ Jim Woods

      I like the Isaiah passage in the Message.   
      He’s Creator of all you can see or imagine.He doesn’t get tired out, doesn’t pause to catch his breath.    And he knows everything, inside and out.He energizes those who get tired,    gives fresh strength to dropouts.

  • http://www.eileenknowles.com/ Eileen

    It’s taken years, but I have learned to appreciate the quiet.  It’s in the quiet where we do the most growing.  

    • unknownjim

      That’s awesome. Thanks so much for sharing!!

  • http://www.adamlasky.com/ Adam

    The quiet kind of scares me.  My mind is constantly going, so even though I might be quiet on the outside, my insides are raging.  Thanks for the authenticity here, Jim.  

    • http://unknownjim.com/ Jim Woods

      Thanks Adam. Good to know I’m not alone!!