The children were talking and I felt too touched by sound

Dear Delyara, That’s the phrase that fits best when I’m overstimulated. Too touched by sound. They weren’t screaming. They were just being children in a room — one talking too fast, one complaining over him, the television still on, one fork dropped, my husband asking something from the other side of the table. Ordinary evening noise. And yet every bit of it felt like direct contact with a nervous system that had already had enough for the day. I didn’t want silence forever. I wanted less impact. I think that’s one of the reasons I go quiet by evening more often now. Not because I have nothing to say, but because I’m trying to stop the world from landing on me with such force.