Silencing The Noise

I did it once, but I was addicted, so, I went back to it until I couldn’t anymore. Then, I knew I had to let go if I wanted to grow.

I didn’t know how much I was addicted to the social media space, especially the one called Instagram. Oh, it is filled with the latest gist, latest trend, latest gossip about celebrities lifestyle, latest owners of big and luxurious things of life, latest dance trends all the way from TikTok, the next potential celebrity, the ones who would pretend to have what they don’t and a lot more, but at least it entertaining… to me.

At that time, if I should stand up from my workspace, trust that I was going for my phone and straight to the world of Instagram for the latest updates, and I would doomscroll for hours longer than the hours I spent on things relating to my life. And when I was done scrolling, I would either sleep off or eat and go back to it. It felt like the perfect escape from my boring life.

The noise, the gossips, all very interesting to read, and laugh about, but then, the part of my life that needed more attention was rotting away while I get distracted by the noise of the socials. I wanted to get first-hand information about the latest happenings, and that, for a very long time, I did, but my growth and personal development journey paid heavily for it. And by the time I realized this, I deleted every form of web 2 social media apps from my phone.

Did that solve the problem? Nope. And that’s because it was at that point, I realized that it was the reason my life was not boring. I was mentally addicted to an extent that I would unconsciously pick my phone, and search up these applications, and at some point, when I couldn’t bear it any longer, I reinstalled them.

However, after a little while when I’ve had enough of retarded growth, I mentally freed myself from the addiction. I gradually restricted myself from picking up my phone in the middle of learning or work, mentally detached myself from the applications, after which I was able to comfortably delete the apps once again, and focus solely on my life.

Now, my routine is boring, but I am growing. I sleep better, rest better, and do my routine daily with zero distractions. Shutting out the noise of these apps did a lot and is still doing a lot to my growth. My personal development journey that seemed retarded has now spiralled into a thing a joy because when I audited myself, I wished I had shut out the noise earlier.

You see, if you are feeling overwhelmed about your life, future or your entire journey, maybe just like me, all you need to do is to find the noisemakers in your life, and shut them out. They could be the random negative thoughts in your head about the uncertain future, or the daily posts of achievements on social media that’s making you feel so little about yourself, shut everything out.

It is not easy to do, but trust me, the moment you are able to do the audit, write down your findings, then, tend to them one after another. Gradually, the seemingly overwhelming thoughts and path will start getting clearer. The absence of the noisemakers in your life will be the turning point for greatness.

Images are mine.