What Kinds of Noises DON'T Bother Us

Last year the noise in this neighborhood really bothered me.  I would lie awake at night looking at the ceiling feeling unhappy.  Sometimes I would go hang my head out the window at 3 or 4 in the morning, craning around the awnings to try to see who was behaving so loudly when the sun was almost ready to come up.  

What a difference a year makes.  I credit my ear plugs with some of the reduction but more interestingly, I equally credit my change in attitude. 

When I first moved here I had a sense that social norms were being violated.  What's being allowed down there is wrong.    Am I the only one who notices?  I was upset at the noise -- that's why I couldn't sleep.  There was an emotional component to my response.  

Now I am okay with it.  I have decided that noise all night is just the flavor of this block. And the city hasn't forgotten this place. Cops park paddy wagons and make sweeps of fighting vagrants and whoever else.  Buses run, streets are swept.

Realizing all this, I can now sleep fine.

So voila: I used to lay awake because I thought the social norms were out of control.  Now that I have stopped judging so negatively it doesn't bother me and I sleep excellently.  

I live at 139th Street in Harlem.  

Comments

[Peter]

Your solution was more morally commendable than mine. When I first moved to this area a quarter century ago, my new landlord neglected to point out to me that the large bushes below my window obscured the Capital Beltway. I heard the roaring all night long. On the second night, I decided it was the ocean -- it really did sound very similar to it -- and that decision helped lull me to sleep each night for the remainder of the one-year lease. I also decided that I had the better of the landlord since the price didn't reflect oceanfront rental rates.

[Denise Spring]

I utilize a sound machine/alarm clock that features chirping crickets, rain, wind, white noise, a babbling brook ( which only elicits a need for the bathroom), and my favorite; ocean waves.With it I block out the booming bass from my 20-somethings neighbors and the video game noises of my son and his friends. I admire your switch in thinking. I have suffered from chronic insomnia since the 90's and I am cranky when my sleep in interrupted.