The house felt loud even though nobody was shouting

Dear Delyara, That’s one of the more difficult kinds of tiredness for me now. It wasn’t actual chaos. One child had the television on too high, the other was tapping something against the table, my husband was speaking from another room, the washing machine had just finished, and someone across the street was mowing their lawn at a completely offensive hour. No single sound was unbearable. Together, they made my skin feel too thin. I think there are days when the nervous system stops distinguishing properly between noise and intrusion. I didn’t handle it beautifully. I went upstairs earlier than usual and sat on the bed in the half-dark for ten minutes with no real explanation beyond “I just need a minute.” That minute probably saved the rest of the evening from the version of me that starts sounding colder than she means to. Sometimes the best thing I do for my family is remove myself before sound turns into unfairness.