One of the things that make me think I'm neurodivergent is my complete dislike of noisy environments. They trigger me.
I've never been good in crowds. I have to psyche myself up to go to concerts. Living near the Formula One track used to wind me up beyond measure. Being stuck in a noisy pub used to send me spare.
Recently, over the last year, I've stopped going to my favourite pump class, mostly because I've been triggered by the loudish music in the room. And I hate being the one to ask to turn the music down all the time. As much as I like the exercise, being triggered by the music isn't fun. My Apple watch has a loud noise detector - that gets triggered in Pump class too.
My shrink has me creating a list of things to do when my anxiety presents itself. Being triggered by noise and having it stop me do things I like, a solution needed to be found.
And it has been.
They cut the noise down by about 16 decibels but you can still hear conversation clearly - good for pump when you have to listed for the choreography instructions.
Also, these will be good for other noisy places - like the office, where I've been tending to stick on brown noise to drown out everything going on around me.
Sure, they're a little pricey, but they're reusable.
Like everything with this perceived neurodiversity (still to be diagnosed, it's on the list of things to do) admitting there's a problem is the first step in finding a solution. I can't wait to try them on Sunday morning.
I think that my husband might need those ear plugs too. He has to work full time in the office until we've moved into our house and he can set up a home office that he's permitted to work from three days a week. Whenever he and I facetime, the volume of his coworkers is astounding; it's like they're standing behind him as though at a noisy pub lining up to buy beers.
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