Hi Justin
It's horrible when you're dealing with certain sounds which a highly triggering. While some may say 'You're just being over sensitive, get over it', when these sounds really trigger your nervous system in a particular way, your nervous system and thoughts can take you to the brink of screaming in uncontrollable fury. Suddenly, in fight/flight/freeze mode, you're up for a fight. It's even worse when you have no control over what others do, like with your neighbours.
For me, it's ticking clocks and dripping taps, largely. They seriously trigger me. It was also my husband's car at one point. He bought a V8 Commodore last year. It's actually this car which led me to understand what all the aggravating sounds were really about. Every time he leaves the garage, the ground vibrates and the sound through the ether is loud enough to annoy the neighbours at 7am. For me, I came to realise all the sounds that annoy me actually annoy me because they are a disruption or interruption to my sense of peace. If you imagine peace as a feeling and you think about how peace feels, I imagine you'd say you enjoy feeling peace. So, every time someone or something disrupts that, it's triggering. A disruption of focus is also triggering. Having to refocus constantly is definitely annoying.
When my husband leaves the garage these days, I practice my mantra 'My sense of peace will return, I'll refocus'. Would you say your sense of peace is in between the coughs and sneezes but you may not notice it, as the coughing and sneezing is the most outstanding thing over a period of time? Would you say you don't notice your sense of peace until it's not there?
I think repetitive sounds can be the worst. it's like you've got a measuring cup and with each tick, drip, cough or sneeze, you're measuring the accumulating level of aggravation, as it builds more and more. I imagine hayfever season to be such a highly triggering time of year for you.
At the end of the day, I manage what's within my power to manage. If I'm not in a position to manage others, I work out how I can manage myself. Kind of like manipulating your own brain in order to change perspective, a massive challenge at times.
Yep, triggering sounds can really take you to the brink of insanity. There are times where if
someone leaves a tap dripping in my house it almost becomes a full
investigation into the crime, 'WHO LEFT THE TAP ON?! WHY DIDN'T YOU TURN
IT OFF?! GOD DAMN IT, WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU?!!!' 🙂
