In Which We Take a Literary Detour

It was a minimal energy day today. Even if it was a token effort, I did it. Sorry, this is the gross, oh-great-gravy-you-smell-terrible side of depression. I finished work and slept for three hours. My legs hadn't recovered from yesterday and it was painful to do Beat Saber. It affects you physically. We've addressed that, it exists, let's discuss constructive things now. Just because I feel like crap doesn't mean I have to dwell on it.

The biggest thing I like about walks over something like Beat Saber (for those that aren't familiar, it's a video game that promotes physical activity) is silence. Silence is such a powerful tool, giving us access to introspective thinking and deeper feelings. Constant inundation with visual and auditory stimulation cripples us. I love how Chris Thile worded it in the song Familiarity with his band, The Punch Brothers:

We lie in bed

The wireless dancing through my head

Until I fear the space between my breath

I see an end to where I don't love you like I can

Cause I've forgotten how it feels (amen)

To love someone or thing for real (amen)

Darling when you wake, remind me what we've done

That can't be shared, or saved, or even sung

-Pulled from Genius.com 09/24/2020

I especially love the third line of the stanza. We come to fear any thought or emotion with genuine substance to it that we fear silence, as though it were a gaping maw enveloping us in our greatest terrors. It is not. Silence is a tool, wielded by our fears when we choose not to use it ourselves. Silence is when we can consider that which is not easily conveyed through written word, song, or video.

Silence is when we listen to that which cannot be spoken.