Deaf or not, this is something that we all need to do from time to time: self care, positive thoughts and a bit of "me" time is always a good idea.
This post was inspired by a lovely lady who reached out to me for some advice earlier this week. Someone who, like me, is back at work full time in a very busy, loud office and felt overwhelmed by the noise after working from home for the past 15 months. I'm no expert, but I can relate to the deafening (excuse the pun!) volume that is an office full of 12+ colleagues as well as passers by, daily visitors and a very busy phone. She asked me to write down what I had said as it may help someone else, so I thought why not.
Think of your brain as a compass, it hears a noise, figures out which ear is nearest, and processes this accordingly. With only one working ear this can't happen. Any normal hearing person will hear a noise on the left and turn that way, in my case (and many others too) this is where you'll find me spinning around in a circle trying to figure out "who said that!" Think about that for a minute.. imagine not having a clue where a noise is coming from, whether it's your phone ringing or a colleagues, or if the person on your "bad side" has been speaking to you for ages and you haven't heard a single word! Your brain is a filter, focusing on the conversation you are having at that very moment and distracting you from all of the other background noise. This can't happen for a half deaf person, leaving your brain confused and left focusing on the nearest sounds: the wind through a window, a conversation on the next table or someone quietly humming. Single sided deafness has been proven to cause fatigue, brain fog, and lowers a persons ability to multi task. Next time you see me napping at my desk you'll know why!
It's not something that I ever thought I could manage, but here we are, nearly 6 years in and managing just fine. It took me a very long time to accept that some days are easy, some are extremely hard, and others are just plain annoying (and sometimes quite funny!). You come to realise that you can no longer have someone speak to you from outside of the room, or call your mobile phone when you have lost it as you've got no chance of ever finding it! But that's ok. Don't beat yourself up for not hearing someone or having to ask twice what someones name is. There is nothing to apologise for or be embarrassed about. Being deaf is part of you. It's who you are. Believe me, you are a stronger person for it.
Rome wasn't built in a day.
