How do you block out the noise?

Two days ago, I left my Earpods in a Bolt driver’s car. I found out when he called, so I wasn’t bothered for the rest of the day because I knew I would get it back. But I didn’t realise how important my pods were to me and my sanity until I was going home for the day.

Immediately I walked out of the gate, I knew something was not right. I would typically be listening to my favourite playlist or an episode of the ISWIS podcast. But I wasn’t doing this. I could hear everything. And when I say everything, I mean everything. The voices of the men arguing passionately at the Newspaper stand. The hunks of drivers eager to go home. The angry grunts of people queueing up to fuel their cars. I could hear everything, and it was overwhelming.

I didn’t realise how much music calms me until my heart rate went up just from walking from my office to the bus stop. I was not fond of the noise. It made me anxious. Mostly because I didn’t want to hear everything every other person had to say.

But while walking to the bus stop, I realised that this was how most people acted in their careers. They start learning marketing because they believe it’s a sure bet, and down the line, they hear tech is the new money and go into UI/UX design. Then, a year later, they see that everyone is a product manager and boom, they start taking a course on Product Management. Two months later, they come across a tweet that says Backend Developers are the bosses of tech, and they abandon everything and start taking a course on that.

Yes, it’s OK to explore. But are you really exploring, or do you just not have a mind of your own? The consequence of listening to what everyone has to say is that you’ll stay a beginner for too long, eating baby food when you should be eating solid food.

We live in a world with a lot of noise. What may be someone’s truth may not apply to you. Someone’s music might be noise to you, so block it out of your ears. If you’ve found your purpose, make decisions that align with it. But if you’ve not, explore but do not let the opinion of others cloud yours.

Blocking the noise can be hard sometimes, especially when it feels like you are the only one left. But stay consistent. Stay faithful. Stick to your purpose. And in time, it will all fall in place.

Guess what? I am still learning, so we are in this together.

Now tell me, what do you do to filter the noise?

I would love to know.