Blocking out the noise

I’ve always made it a point to try to read something every day. In a world where you can get any kind of information with a tap and a swipe, or where you can get news updates in real time, it seems almost shameful to say that you don’t know what’s going on.

More than having a gadget handy to check on all that’s going on in the country, outlets for information are everywhere. There are television programs where even talk shows and dramas provide subtle hints as to what the political scene is like, there are radio commentaries and beats that offer different perspectives of the moves and countermoves being made by a divided nation, there are newspapers whose headlines scream about the latest deaths, drug bust operations, and clap backs of different nationalities. It is so hard to get away from information, from news, and from the general noise of the world. It is so overwhelming.

Every day, it feels like I’m being assaulted by so much noise. I’m desperately trying to make sense of everything, but most of the time it just becomes a hodgepodge of unprocessed information. There is just so much going on.

The year isn’t over yet and daily killings of suspected drug users and pushers continue to add to the thousands documented, Mindanao is under martial law because of a war that’s supposed to be letting up and yet hasn’t ended, the transition to the K-to-12 educational system has been all but sidelined because the war on drugs is being deemed more important, our citizens want certain officials impeached and have waged online wars on various political leaders, a threat of “the Big One” destroying the metro remains to be a threat, and a lot more. Other parts of the world have also been significantly noisy — from the Neo-Nazis who marched through the streets of Charlottesville to the bomb North Korea recently detonated.

More than this, every person goes through their own storms. Everyone goes through something, and it consumes them. Some go through troubles of love (which are clichés but still hurt in their own respects), some through family issues, some through monetary ones, and some through existential crisis. Taking everything into account, it feels like we’re the bubbling water in a cauldron over a hot fire just waiting to go over the edge.

That’s a scary feeling.

You can’t really block the noise. You can’t run away from the world; it always finds a way to catch up with you no matter what. Meditating is a feat in itself. I mean, how can you empty your mind with so much noise? I honestly don’t know. I asked a friend, though. She gives me really nice advice. My favorite one blocks out the noise for a little while and kind of reminds me that whatever happens, there’s still another day.

Here’s her advice: Whenever you’re stressed, take about 10 minutes to look at the sky. Think about the cosmos, the stars, and the galaxies. The noise isn’t so loud on the face of the Universe.

* * *

Maolin S. Macatangay, 22, is “deeply fascinated with existence, conversations, philosophy, the universe, and life.”