🎧
I have had an ear infection the last couple of days and I literally cannot wear headphones without considerable pain. the unintended benefit of this is that I’ve had to walk my dog without music blasting and it’s so nice.
we have a cacophony of bird sounds in the late afternoon/evening here in Australia (magpies, cockatoos, lorikeets, plovers) and usually my music drowns this out, but having no headphones means I have to listen to the sounds and it’s low key beautiful. the sounds of nature are beautiful. noticing the birds is beautiful.
life is richer than we realise if we choose to notice and listen to the sounds around us instead of insulating ourselves from them.
Related Recs
🎵
I’ve recently read a book about the concept of “soundwalking” and listening to the beauty of your surroundings exploring your city and neighborhood. I used to become pretty over stimulated by the sounds of the world and would used my headphones religiously to block any sounds of the outside world from getting in. But I started to wonder if the things I use to protect myself from the outside world also isolating me from experiencing it to its fullest potential. Maybe the sounds of construction and people talking and birds and busses aren’t just “sound pollution“ but a reverberation of society and life. An organic inprov performance just for me where I am right now in the world. it made me think that anything has the potential to be a work of art depending on your perspective. I’ve started walking with a tape recorder everywhere I go and I record the sounds around me as an auditory diary of sorts. it’s fun to listen back and be reminded of the sounds of the bowling alley or the cafe or the sound check at the punk show. Since this perspective shift I’ve become allot less over stimulated by the world and become more creative with my greatest resource: the world around me.
Jan 10, 2025
🔇
it’s so much more fun than putting in your earbuds and shutting yourself off from the world. Birds are chirping, people are talking, machines are humming, music is playing, it’s all there for you to enjoy if you allow yourself to hear it.
Jun 20, 2024
🎧
i broke another pair of headphones so this lifestyle was forced onto me but it’s kinda cool hearing the birds chirp and such
Feb 6, 2024
Top Recs from @theeyah
🐦
i don't think anyone ever intends to become a recreational ornithologist. but i've noticed that it definitely creeps up on you slowly in your mid-twenties. it starts with noticing how funny pigeons are, then learning pigeon lore, and suddenly you're feeding your neighbourhood birds every morning and buying books on birds. as a child i idolised the pigeon lady in home alone 2, and i woke up this morning and realised — i AM the pigeon lady 🐦
6d ago
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reading is a habit of building and developing your empathy and critical thinking skills. you’re forced to sit with an idea for however long you are reading it and forced to contextualise it and comprehend it within your own life and perspective. You can’t just scroll away or pause or put it on 2x speed. you have to sit with it. it’s super underrated, but genuinely I’ve made this a habit for the last year and feel like a totally different person. also you come out of it having learned something new or seeing the world in a slightly new way. I literally do not see any downsides to reading. make reading cool again! also you don’t have to do it in one big block, you can space it out — 15 mins here, 45 there — whatever works for you!
Dec 9, 2024
🪞
our cultural obsession with being perceived as cool is a disease. its peak capitalistic/consumerist propaganda. fuck being cool. like what you like and who cares if it's cool or not. it's tiresome and we need to leave it in 2024. literally nothing gives me the ick more than people who betray themselves in an attempt to be perceived as cool by the masses. be yourself — even if it means you're 'uncool'.
Jan 3, 2025