Finding inner peace in a noisy world is straight-up the hardest thing i’ve tried to do since that time i thought i could “just quickly” assemble IKEA furniture without the instructions (spoiler: i cried).
i’m writing this on my couch in Portland right now, it’s like 11:12 pm, there’s a dude outside yelling at his bluetooth speaker because it won’t connect, my across-the-hall neighbor is learning electric guitar (badly), and my phone just buzzed with a push alert that some celebrity i don’t care about broke up with someone else i don’t care about. this is the noisy world we’re dealing with. send help. or wine.
why finding inner peace in a noisy world used to make me wanna punch a wall
okay real talk: i used to think people who talked about “inner peace” were the same people who put essential oils on everything and called it medicine. like congrats karen your lavender didn’t cure my anxiety it just made my uber driver think i hotbox sage.
then last spring i had a full meltdown in the whole foods parking lot because someone took the spot i had my blinker on for and i literally sat in my car ugly-crying to phoebe bridgers for 20 minutes. that was the moment i was like… okay maybe i do need to figure out this whole finding inner peace in a noisy world thing before i end up on the news. https://insighttimer.com
the stupid trick that accidentally worked for finding inner peace in my very noisy world
so one night i’m three glasses of boxed wine deep, hating myself, scrolling instagram, and i accidentally hit the insight timer app instead of the explore page. the free meditation that started playing was literally just some dude breathing loudly for ten minutes?? but i was too lazy to grab my phone from across the couch so i just… let it play.
next thing i know i wake up at 4am with drool on my hoodie and for once my brain wasn’t doing the usual 3am “remember that embarrassing thing you said in 2017” tour. i laughed so hard i scared the cat. finding inner peace in a noisy world via accidental breathing youtube. iconic. https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/noise/default.html
my current (extremely chaotic) routine for finding inner peace in a noisy world
don’t come for me this is what works okay:
- wake up, immediately put on rain sounds + brown noise combo (yes both at once don’t @ me)
- chug cold brew while staring at my half-dead pothos plant named kevin and whisper “same”
- do the 4-7-8 breathing thing in my car before work because if i do it at my desk my coworker chad will 100% make fun of me
- keep a note on my phone called “brain dump” where i word-vomit every anxious thought so it stops renting space in my skull
- at night i put my phone in the microwave (not turned on obviously chill) so i stop checking it. yes i know that’s deranged no i don’t care
the time i ruined a sound bath (yes really)
signed up for a fancy sound bath thing because my therapist said “try new experiences.” halfway through the lady hits this gong that sounds like a garbage truck falling down stairs and i yelped “JESUS CHRIST” so loud the entire room went silent. then i started laughing. couldn’t stop. had to leave. ate taco bell in my car and questioned every life choice that led me to that moment. peak finding inner peace in a noisy world fail. https://www.calmer-you.com/brown-noise-for-anxiety/
random crap that actually helps me find inner peace in this noisy world (your mileage may vary)
- going on walks with zero podcasts!! the silence is terrifying for like five minutes then suddenly… birds?? wild.
- writing “you are not the main character of everyone’s story” on a sticky note on my mirror because my brain loves to forget
- saying “no” to things that make me wanna die inside (revolutionary i know)
- keeping one (1) plant alive. his name is kevin and he’s hanging on by a thread and so am i
look i’m still a walking disaster 98% of the time. my apartment smells like cold brew and depression. my group chat is a war zone. i still flinch every time a notification dings like i’m in ‘nam. but finding inner peace in a noisy world isn’t about becoming some enlightened guru who floats above the chaos. https://psychcentral.com/anxiety/digital-detox
for me it’s just stealing tiny scraps of quiet wherever i can. like a raccoon digging through trash for that one perfect half-eaten burrito.
anyway if you’re out there also losing your mind in this screaming hellscape we call modern life… try one dumb thing tomorrow. just one. and if it doesn’t work we can both just eat cheetos in the dark and pretend we’re fine.
what’s the one thing that actually shuts the noise up for you? tell me in the comments fr i’m desperate and running out of cheetos.
