A day without noise cancellation

My AirPods Pro are one of my favourite EDC items. I take them everywhere… literally…

Five minutes into my drive to work, I realised my dear AirPods Pro were not with me. Despite having find my enabled, my lazy iPhone did not notify me that my beloved AirPods were left behind. Weirdly, I could picture it in my mind exactly where they are in my study.

Perhaps, I am exaggerating a tiny bit but at the time, my heart sunk. Luckily, I recalled, I'd kept my 2nd generation AirPods in my bag as backup. So, I was going to be ok. At least that is what I thought ….

Oh boy oh boy, I underestimated the importance/need of silence or lack of noise in my life.

Perhaps it's a post COVID thing but I suddenly at work, people around me seemed loud and annoying. I was extremely sensitive to the noise in my surroundings..Keep in mind for almost two years, I have been working from home alone… having said that, I have been back into the office at least two to three times a week. Each time, I had my AirPods Pro to keep me focused.

Today, was different. I genuinely struggled to focus. It's terrifying how reliant I have become to noise cancellation which until a few years ago, I only cared about during my plane trips. Now, I have it everywhere.

On a positive note, because I didn't have earbuds on all day, I heard many more conversations and actually joined some of them. Those were not work related conversations but it still was a good chat. So I wouldn't say, today was a complete write off. From a productivity stand point, I may have been unsettled for the first hour but I quickly adapted and managed to do everything I’d planned. Strangely, I listened to far less podcasts and music.

The bottom line is, I am a lot more sensitive to the noise of this world than I was previously. To the extent that I contemplated acquiring a second pair of the AirPods Pro to keep at work. Obviously, I didn't.

I am going to the office again tomorrow and I will have to just remember to take it with me tomorrow morning.

Until then, 🥱

Is the world just becoming more noisy??? 😲