There was a time in my life when I had to have music or some sort of white noise at all times. I’m not that way anymore. In fact, I’m quite the opposite. I’ve noticed that I am my most creative, most productive, when I work in silence. Just me and the hum of the sewing machine, the sound of the rotary cutter, and music or any noise at all breaks my momentum.
Apparently, I’m strange. Most people like to have music playing all the time, as evidenced by huge iTunes libraries and iPods with lots of storage. I use my iPod when I’m running, or when I’m on an airplane, or I hook it up to my car stereo on road trips. I don’t otherwise turn on iTunes or my iPod.
I don’t even notice that I’m working in silence until something breaks that silence — a dog walking in the room, for example, or a cat meowing. Or Jerry or the girls coming home from somewhere. And then I realize that several hours have passed where not a single word was said, no music was played, and it was just me and the abstract thoughts of whatever it was I had been working on.
As a particularly loud person, I never thought I’d be the type to enjoy the silence. But I very definitely am. I think I learned that from Jerry, to be honest. And now he almost always has music playing. I think we’ve reversed roles or something.