sensitivity to sound
i don’t know how or why it’s happened, but over the course of adulthood i’ve become increasingly sensitive to sounds which i never noticed before: household objects scraping against each other, the whoosh of air over the tops of cars as they speed down the arterial road, the thump of a mop handle falling against the wall, the whirring motor of the blinds as we raise them in the morning and lower them at night.
in parallel or perhaps as a side effect of this development, i’ve stopped listening to music the way i used to. in college, especially while i studied abroad, i was constantly plugged into a soundtrack to suit my mood. there were ambient songs for my morning walk to the metro and pop-funk tracks for the long stroll home. whenever i was in between places, i was listening to something; whether instrumental or electronic, rebellious or wistful, something was always playing. but now, although there are certain songs i sometimes crave and a wide breadth of music i still enjoy, i am generally more likely to feel encroached upon by music rather than drawn to it.
i’m not sure why but i am reminded of something a friend once told me about cats: that they have highly concentrated nerve endings and sensory receptors all over the surface of their bodies, whereas most humans primarily experience sensations through their hands, especially the fingers. this inherent hypersensitivity leads some cats to be jumpy in response to their environments, which of course some people like to interpret as bitchiness. perhaps, as i get older, i am slowly morphing towards my spirit animal, the cat.