WORLD OFF DAILY

bus. 

subway. 

a family roadtrip. 

a run. a walk; 

headphones on, the world off. 

just you and the beats. 

no thoughts, no speech.

music.

we have countless music-listening possibilities today, we buy or download it, put it in playlists, make covers of it, and never run out of it because there's plenty of great artists and songs to listen to.

everyday when i leave my house, i check if i have two things; my phone and my headphones (and a hand cream, but that doesn't really go with the point i'm trying to make).
i put my headphones on and go out without anybody interrupting me, i do whatever i came to do and go back home exactly the same way. alone.
headphones are a great pretext for not having to speak to people you see and know. you can simply ignore everybody when you have headphones on.

i go running once in a while and turn my workout playlist even before i leave the house. i take the regular track and when im done i do this thing of running the last 30 meters as fast as i can. and when i reach the finish line (it's an electricity box) i stop and gasp out. breathe out so heavily i wish nobody will be passing at that moment. as i stand there the music is still on and i keep it playing until i reach the door knob of my home.

the point of this post was not the last thirty meters of my irregular running routine though. it was the one time i made a change. i was finishing my workout and my legs were already tired and couldn't move properly because i was exhausted from the week. so while i was sprinting i tripped up and in order to balance myself and to not fall on my face i did a weird move with my hands and accidentally pulled down my headphones.

it made me mad at first because it's usually the last thirty meters i enjoy the most. but as was trying to put them back in and at the same time untangle them from my t-shirt i actually got to walk with no music in my ears for like five seconds.

and i breathed. and walked, and perceived the beauty of the world as it was. totally uninterrupted, suddenly peaceful.
what if the music we play to not let people interrupt us interrupts us itself?
i know, it's cool now to hate everybody and wear black but i feel like we're slipping the reality through our fingers. the world we get to have all around us is extraordinary and we voluntarily choose to ignore it?
don't get me wrong, the music is a great thing but when was the last time you talked to a stranger on a bus?

 

gretavbc