Too much noise
March 28, 2025
Author | Hannah Hill
I don’t know about you, but when I’m surrounded by chaos and noise, I become completely overwhelmed. A lot of times that’s physical noise, but I also get overwhelmed by the non-physical noise. Part of the reason I was drawn to treating people with anxiety is because I’m also a person with anxiety. Sometimes a lot and sometimes a little. But usually there’s always some. Recently, over the past few months, I’ve found that there’s a lot more and I’ve noticed that it coincides directly with the amount of noise occurring in my environments.
I recently went through a period when I felt like I was drowning in the monotony of life: wake up, get kids ready, break up the inevitable fights that go along with that, walk to bus stop, come home, workout, see clients, bath time, bed time. Repeat next day. Oh, and sprinkle in some epic tantrums and screaming fests because…well, kids. And while these demands are most certainly first world problems, they are my problems. In fact, in a community of working parents, I can say they are our problems. And when I feel stuck in a rut or monotony, I start to panic. What if this never changes? What if my kids are actually sociopaths? What if I never do anything fun again? These are all examples of catastrophic thoughts and an amazing opportunity to use cognitive strategies to reframe and challenge these thoughts. Of course this will change, life never stays stagnant (just ask 24 year old party girl Hannah. She no longer exists!). Of course my kids aren’t sociopaths, they have loving and endearing moments often. And yes, you’ll do something fun again someday. It’s just not today. And while I felt like I was drowning in the monotony, I learned some troubling news about people in my life and what was happening in their worlds that made me grateful for the monotony. This is another great coping mechanism: focusing on what you have rather than what you don’t have. It’s also a great space for guilt to creep in so for those of us who struggle with that, be mindful.
While navigating this time, I found that I was consuming media and information at a rapid pace: I was also doomscrolling news coverage about every new legal action, every new press conference, every new hateful and depressing ass executive order being signed. And the 76ers dismal fucking season (certainly not as important but still something I can’t escape caring about). I was also reading two very emotionally heavy books: an historical narrative of a person’s experience during the Holocaust and an colleague’s most recent book about how we deal with traumatic events. They are both books I’m very interested in reading but the content isn’t the most uplifting. I signed up for a bunch of new newsletters (healthy recipes, parenting strategies) and also…gasp…joined LinkedIn. I know the latter must seem so silly but for real, if you know me, you know my hate relationship with social media of any kind. It’s a strange fucking world I have no idea how to navigate and deeply despise at the same time. All of these things—heavy reading material, consuming news coverage, reading about my favorite sports team tanking, feeling the pressure to keep up with the information flooding my email, and now being connected and exposed in an uncomfortable way all led to me examining the noise. I had to take steps to quiet it. Because the thing is, noise around us can cause our anxiety to get worse and be a distraction for us to cope with the anxiety. This paradox shows up in therapy all the time: the thing we avoid doing actually makes our symptoms worse. I found myself overwhelmed with all the things and I was using a consumption binge to fix it. But I know better. So, I renewed the limits on my phone. I limited my reading time to one hour daily of any emotionally heavy material. I stopped telling my kids I was busy while I doom scroll and instead chose to play cards, snuggle while watching cartoons, and learn what happened in their days. I tapped into what really mattered to me. Because I’m a person that prides myself on spending less than 2 hours a day on my phone. I’m a person that is passionate about what’s going on in the world but isn’t bogged down by every negative spin. I’m a person who is always trying to be a more engaged mom and soaking up the moments of childhood that will surely pass much quicker than I want them to. So here’s to quieting some noise, challenging negative thoughts, and living with less anxiety. If you’re interested in help with those things, I provide services to clients throughout Pennsylvania with in-person appointments available in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania.