Meeting My New Normal. Not At All The Same As The Old One

This is the second installment in this series. You can read the first one at https://www.bebee.com/producer/@jim-murray/dispatches-from-the-quiet-side-of-the-lake-part-one

In the new place where I have lived since last December, the biggest adjustment I had to make was getting used to the fact that at night there is virtually no noise.
It would very much appear that nocturnal prowling in cars or on motorcycles or skateboards or any other mode of transport is simply something that hardly ever happens.
This quiet was quite unnerving at first. I was a bit afraid of it. Most of my adult life in Toronto was spent living on or close to fairly busy streets. But my new street is anything but, and we are far enough north of the highway that the incessant hum of a thousand cars and trucks does not reach us even when the wind is blowing from the south.
Slowly, over these past months. I have noticed that my mind, which is arguably the most valuable tool I own, is becoming inured to this new environment. It feels like it can breathe here and that it is much freer within the almost total absence of nocturnal aural distraction.
Now, at night, (as I am writing this) my mind roams aimlessly, exploring all the notions that have occurred to me during the day.
My mind finds it easier to remember dreams, which are, in fact, a big part of the inspiration that goes into my work. My focus has become sharper and my ability to apply that focus for longer periods of time has also increased dramatically.
This focus and its expanded duration have no doubt played a big part in the decrease in tics that I experience during the day.
This is, to me at least, a fascinating thing. It feels like driving and hitting every green light. You carry on without any thought of a sudden stop or jolt that will steer you to the left or right.
I’m also finding it progressively more difficult to remember what it was like living in Toronto with the din of the city all around me all the time.
I didn’t really mind it all that much. Or let me put it another way, I was used to it, and in many ways, I suppose, it was stimulating.
But now…well, it’s a whole new ball game and I would not trade these silent nights for all the tea in China.
I am also now harbouring a desire to get back into writing fiction again. This is something I would not have dreamed of doing in Toronto, because there was just too much going on all the time.
There’s a lot going on here. But there’s something to be said for the diminished sense of urgency that living life in a smaller community brings with it. And it’s something that really cannot be sped up. You either learn to go with whatever pace the flow dictates or you end up getting very frustrated by just about everything.

When I first moved here, I was vibrating at a very high rate. I was stressed from having to live with my life in boxes because we had a long closing on our Toronto house. I was stressed because we had to move in December and it was really cold. I was stressed because I wasn’t quite sure I knew what I was doing. It was pretty nasty. A solid 10 on the jangled nerves scale.
I was only sleeping about 2 hours a night and so I was pissed off all the time, because I was tired all the time.
But once we got all our stuff into the new house and there was no reason to go back to the old house, I started to relax.
I started to going for long bike rides (mild winters here), and joined some networking groups and slowly began to feel I was getting to know the community.
Then I met Charlene Norman, who was in the same boat as I was and we decided to create something together, which we did and called it Bullet Proof Consulting.
I also started spending more time with my family, who live really close. My sister especially, who is my wife's best friend.
It was a hell of a process, to say the least. But at every step along the way, the tightly wound me got a little looser.
Today, and for the past few weeks, my new normal has taken hold and I look forward to September when, I am told, the pace of life here picks up a bit and the business seeds we are planting will start to sprout.
They say that selling and buying houses and moving from one city to another are a couple of the most stressful things anyone can do. I can’t disagree.
But moving to a smaller community, has, for me at least, quieted a lot of the noise that was in my head from four decades of life in the Toronto fast lane.
So here I am on the Quiet Side Of The Lake and feeling pretty good about it.

Jim Murray is a marketer, communication strategist, writer, art director and blogger. His partner, Charlene Norman is a business systems and operational analyst. Their collaboration is called Bullet Proof Consulting, headquartered in St Catharines, Ontario. Bullet Proof is designed to help companies change their thinking for the better, to become more productive, efficient better branded and successful in today’s highly competitive business world. You can get a very clear impression of how we think by reading our blogs at www.bulletproofconsulting.ca/blog

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