Try it if you don’t already know.
I found peace during the holidays and all it took was one little earbud. Let me first admit that before this discovery I did warn my kid that his generation would create their own extinction because of how slowly they crossed busy streets with their ear buds in.
Bring on Christmas Day 2024 and our traditional 7 hour brunch (which essentially means a massive amount of food for brunch and grazing til dinnertime – if you’re filipino or have been to a filipino gathering you know!). Prior to everyone arriving I had my music on while prepping and cooking. It was nice. And then family started arriving.
To be clear, I love my family but I also crave my space and quiet. I wasn’t ready for the people and their peopling. That’s when I discovered the one bud secret. Stick one ear bud in to hear the music and keep the other clear to hear the usual family holiday chaos but at a lowered energy level. An emotional truce! Genius!
Now I’m not saying that the current generation may have the answer to help humanity or even family gatherings. Those kids were practically born with earbuds and headphones already attached to their heads. I’ve seen proof of this in restaurants where families are at dinner and their toddlers have headphones on while eating and watching cartoons, or ironically, kids videos teaching them how to play nicely with others. I fear that they may be too tuned out for their own good.
Rather, I’m talking to our generation, Generation X and earlier. The generations that had years of listening and talking to others because we had no other options. I think we’ve paid our dues and have earned the one bud pass. Try it. I’m pretty sure Mikey would like it!
