I need some quiet time

[ReflectAndLearn]

You know when a child becomes over stimulated, and you get a quiet place and turn off all the TV, music, and computers, and just have some quiet time? I feel like I need this. I feel on the cusp of having a meltdown if I don’t extract myself.

The run up to Christmas at work was manic, we have lots of organisational change at work and as a result everyone is stressed and angry and taking it out on each other. Outside work I am getting grief from relatives over family politics. Now I’m feeling really sensitive to little comments, and not reacting well to them. Then I turn on the TV and see Trump, Musk, Starmer and everything else and it’s all negative. I’m stressed and it’s only 8 Jan, not a good start to the year.

I feel like I need to be left alone in a quiet room, with silence, in a small house, up a mountain, in the middle of nowhere and not talk to anyone outside my own little lot. FYI, my DH and my DC are lovely.

Since I have to function, go to work, and interact with people, obviously I can’t do this.

Any tips for checking out, whilst still being present. For replacing noise with silence, for distracting my mind and being here, but not.

AIBU for saying that life, and the right now, is just too much negative stimulation?

Do exactly that. Find time in a day (first thing in the morning, last thing at night) and do a 20 minute guided meditation or mindfulness practice. It might take a few days to start seeing your nervous system rebalancing.
We have a "me time" practice in our house where everyone has an hour to do whatever they like in the evening. I usually go up to the bedroom an hour before bedtime while everyone else is still pottering around and I do 30 min of mindfulness and a little reading.

Stop watching the news. I often when I watch it, think to myself, if I wasn't watching the news, would I know if this was happening? The answer is usually no.

I do 20 mins yoga in the morning that helps

I finish my working day every day with at least 20 to 30 mins of yoga. It helps reset the mind and calm the brain as well as doing good physically.

I also often just take myself out for long solo rambles - no music, no book.

Calm instrumental music through headphones is good when you can't get totally away from everyone else. (There is the glitch that putting headphones on is like a trigger for everyone else to suddenly neeeeeed you)

Can you get out for a walk at the weekend. I used to joke when the DCs were young that I was "running away from the family", I was only going out for a jog and ran back home to them.
I now take a book and headphones with me when I take the DCs to activities. I find it much easier "finding flow" to escape into a book when away from home. For one of the activities I go to a pub and it's relatively quiet at that time.

I'm going through vintage content on BBC iPlayer and refinding comedies that made me laugh when I was younger. I avoid things like gritty dramas anyway.

Absolutely not unreasonable. I've discovered that a pair of headphones and a podcast or a white noise playlist on spotify, is an absolute sanity saver, I'm still in the room and I can potter around doing bits of housework etc. if needed, but I feel like I've got my own little world. My children are pre-teen or teen so don't need constant supervision, but sometimes I just need a break from the constant sounds of people and life around me.

O to work but cut out everything else

Take your lunch break and walk out - lie that you have a headache if you need to get people off your back then

Turn off the tv and the phone and put some music on- dance around ( movement helps) . Go for a walk even if it's just around the block. Ideally to a park or in nature Go to bed really early with a book

Ironically I got peopled out in lockdown - work was crazy and I was on Teams meetings constantly, 12 - 15 hours a day. Mr Minkey wasn't working and as an extrovert really struggled with not doing stuff and leaned heavily on me.

I found going to my local woods and just sitting there for 30 mins or so with my eyes shut listening to the sounds of birds and trees really helped.

I'm old enough that so many of the "crises" going on in the world are continuations or echoes of what was going on in the news 30 years ago. The world keeps turning, and I can't change those things. All I can do is manage my behaviour and live life decently. There's no point stressing about wars here, and disasters there. I have a headline awareness, but there's no benefit to me to get into the details of it.

This is me everyday. I have to have some time to switch off, even for half an hour.
Luckily my child is a teen so I get the time and opportunity to have peace and quiet. Since it’s January I’m using that small chunk of time in the evening to exercise.

Walk every day, even 20 minutes.
And a bit of yoga, there is some good practice online

Walk in nature. No news on tv or radio in car. No SM.

I don't watch it for this precise reason. I will catchup on the odd thing online but try not to watch the news on TV

I think maybe, I am an introvert. It’s funny because people think I am outgoing, and confident, and I work with customers and I always need to be happy and smiley.

Then as soon as I am out the door of work or after a meeting with a group of friends I feel over stimulated. I also feel like people are just horrible these days. That said, I wouldn’t like to be home alone all the time on my own. I like to see friends (I prefer one on one rather than a group), and go to work, but then be left in peace. It’s a strange one.

I’ll admit that there have been times when we have, as a family, booked holidays in the middle of nowhere, with no one around, and we have not wanted to come back to real life. I’m lucky in that my DH and DC are chilled and drama free. My DH is very quiet. With them, I feel calm. It’s outside of our house where I feel overstimulated and stressed out.

Thanks for all the tips.