Are you scared of the silence?

Hi everyone..bit of a random title right? when I say 'scared' I'm not saying we have a phobia or anything, its  more in the sense that we tend to avoid it if we can. we often associate silence with awkwardness or uncomfortable feelings, but silence is simply the absence of noise! okay...well think about it, wherever you are right now, reading this...how many sounds can you hear? cars going past? music? computer whirring? children/siblings/partner doing other stuff...try and remember the last time it was completely silent. when you couldn't hear anything but your own breathing. no clocks. difficult? let me explain my point.

dictionary definition of silence

silence

noun

1. absence of any sound or noise; stillness.

2. the state or fact of being silent; muteness.

3. absence or omission of mention, comment, or expressed concern

if silence is all about stillness and quiet, how come its so difficult to find?! lets look at another definition..

relaxing–verb (used without object)

6. to become less tense, rigid, or firm.

7. to become less strict or severe; grow milder.

8. to reduce or stop work, effort, application, etc., esp. for the sake of rest or recreation.

9. to release oneself from inhibition, worry, tension, etc.

this sounds pretty good right?

It says 'stop work' aka be still...

It says release from inhibition aka to stop doing something

It says to become less tense/rigid aka to be calm

get the idea?

I believe that if we all took some 'time out' in silence just reminiscing and just spending a bit of time with yourself and your own thoughts, that we would be a lot less stressed out and become more relaxed.
I don't know about you, but my 'time out' is sitting in my room, on my bed with some music on or watching a movie or facebooking. not so quiet eh? well, with all the conveniences we are so blessed with, silence just isn't the norm anymore, we fill up our days with noise, busying ourselves with all the things we 'have' to do.

maybe we could all do a bit of a mission, a challenge with ourselves to overcome our 'fear of silence' take out a couple of hours this week and just sit/lie in silence for a bit, leaving yourselves with our own thoughts and just relaxing, 'letting go' of all the 'stuff' in our busy lives, and see how we feel after? I challenge you to 'fight the fear of silence'

hope all goes well! xx

10 tips to becoming less 'afraid' of silence and more relaxed

1. find somewhere you can 'escape' to and go there when you feel overwhelmed
2. write a blog/diary
3. when your feeling particularly stressed, don't do more stuff to try and work it our, write a list of all the things you have to do and work it through one by one
4. if you drive/walk to your work, turn off your music or the radio and just drive/walk in the quiet
5. learn a slow breathing exercise and go through it at least twice a day-it will calm you and help you to think straight as it will increase the level of oxygen to your brain
6. do some shoulder rolls (rolling them round in circular motions up to a hunching motion and then all the way round till normal position) this will loosen you up and stop you being so tense
7. open some windows and enjoy the fresh air!
8. in your break, go for a walk on your own or with a friend and just enjoy the quiet
9. get enough sleep! lack of sleep is a major cause of stress
10. drink plenty, dehydration will leave you feeling tired and unfocused