Seeking Peace and Quiet
@bagarad (14283)
Paso Robles, California
September 2, 2018 4:35pm CST
I seem to be turning into more of an introvert every day. I hunger for solitude that's hard to find now that we're living in the city. There seems to be noise everywhere that I can't control. That makes me tense and crabby. I can't help it if my soul craves quiet.
This morning after I got up and had breakfast I had planned to have a quiet time in the living room reading my Bible. My husband was at church so I knew the TV - another enemy of quiet - would be off. But it seems one of my neighbors now has a car detailing business he runs on my street. This is the second time in as many days that I have heard loud vocal music from a car parked in front of my kitchen window. They like listening to it while they work on the cars. I don't like listening to it.
I can no longer enjoy my home in peace if this becomes a regular thing. I suspect running a business like this from the street is illegal. The ones running it may also be illegals, but I know I shouldn't assume that just because the language of the music was foreign. I'm kind of afraid to complain until I can clear enough garage space to park my own cars inside. If I complain, I might face retaliation. It's almost enough to make me want to move back to Templeton, but it's not always quiet either, especially when the neighboring wineries have events with loud music outdoors.
Yesterday I spent most of the day rearranging my bedroom on the other side of the house, farther from that street. I decluttered that room enough to set up a chair and lamp so I could sit in there and read in peace. Continuing to read in bed every morning was beginning to hurt my back. So now I have a little quieter nest where I can retreat when Hubby wants to watch TV and I don't. Instead of continuing to fret this morning, I took what I was reading into that new and quieter place and I was able to concentrate. I"m feeling pretty good that I have solved one problem that was plaguing me.
Have you solved any problems lately that have been bothering you? Do you ever wish your neighborhood were quieter?
12 people like this
15 responses
@allknowing (130066)
• India
3 Sep 18
What cannot be cured has to be endured. There is no other way.
2 people like this
@bagarad (14283)
• Paso Robles, California
21 Sep 18
@Janet357 It can be maddening. I want to walk by the lake a couple of days ago. The lake park is normally a peaceful place. But a man was parked on the road through the park, the main way people walked beside the lake, and he had his car radio on full blast and his door open. He appeared to be homeless. It was sad, but it's not right that one person can take the peace and quiet away from everyone else at a park or at a beach.
@drannhh (15219)
• United States
7 Sep 18
That is why instead of having one big house I have several small ones. When people (or things) get on my last nerve at one of them I can go to the other. I call it Cloud Living. Besides I meet interesting people on my "commute" - I think you know one of them.
1 person likes this
@bagarad (14283)
• Paso Robles, California
12 Sep 18
But your houses are so far apart! Mine are closer together. I'm just not always free to travel to the other when one gets noisy. Now Kosta wants to rent a room in the other house (which currently has no empty rooms) to one of our workmen who asked about it. Perhaps I should ask him to clear them.
1 person likes this
@bagarad (14283)
• Paso Robles, California
3 Sep 18
It's not a total solution, but it helps. Before I rearranged the bedroom I read in the parking lot after I went shopping. Even in the far corner of that parking lot some guy was talking loudly on his cell phone a short distance away.
1 person likes this
@patgalca (18180)
• Orangeville, Ontario
2 Sep 18
Other people's loud music aggravates me. When my husband is working on a vehicle he turns the music on really loud. I go out and tell him that the whole neighbourhood doesn't want to hear his music. Some people are so dense and disrespectful. I couldn't stand constant noise. I am so used to being home alone and constant quiet that I have become too used to it. Over the summer with one daughter home from university and 2 boyfriends coming and going, I was going a little nuts with all the noise.
1 person likes this
@wolfgirl569 (95120)
• Marion, Ohio
2 Sep 18
Glad you were able to find a quieter spot. I love the peace of just the critters around us.
1 person likes this
@bagarad (14283)
• Paso Robles, California
3 Sep 18
Sometimes I had that kind of peace at our rural house when we lived there full time.
@bagarad (14283)
• Paso Robles, California
3 Sep 18
The right (or wrong) neighbors can make all the difference.
@RasmaSandra (73408)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
2 Sep 18
I am lucky that now in my new apartment here in Daytona Beach Florida we live about a block from the Halifax River on a quiet side street and there is not big noise anywhere around. The loud noise is on the main avenue in this resort town and that is a number of blocks away. Glad you found a quiet space for yourself.
1 person likes this
@RonElFran (1214)
• Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania
3 Sep 18
You remind me how thankful I should be to live in a quiet neighborhood where about the only times the neighbors get noisy are the 4th of July (fireworks) and the occasional backyard party. It's a blessing.
1 person likes this
@JohnRoberts (109857)
• Los Angeles, California
3 Sep 18
Every day for years I have wished for more peace and quiet.
1 person likes this
@bagarad (14283)
• Paso Robles, California
3 Sep 18
For sure Los Angeles is not a quiet place. Our house in Culver City when we lived there in the sixties until 1976 was fairly quiet -- mostly retired folks like us or people with no children because the houses were small wartime houses. I was near a corner with a park almost across the street. We had a good life there.
1 person likes this
@aureliah (24319)
• Kenya
3 Sep 18
I know that feeling when you just want to be alone and in complete solitude. When I feel like this, I like going to my bed and closing the door. At least I do not hear the outside noise
@LadyDuck (458006)
• Switzerland
3 Sep 18
I am sorry you have noisy neighbors. Our neighbors are quiet. We had a problem last year, the neighbors living in the house in front of ours were vacationing, their two teenagers son were at home. The two young boy invited friends and made noise all the night long. The neighbor on the right on our property was also annoyed and he is a policeman. I went out to complain and he came with me. No more noises from that day on.
