Tonight after dinner we all walked downtown to sit in the pleasant little grassy circle by the train station and listen to live music. It was a perfect early summer evening, with roses and irises and yarrow in bloom all around us, and the musician was pretty good. I haven't listened to live music, other than at church, since February 2020. I was looking forward to it.
After 15 minutes I was totally overstimulated. It wasn't crowded, and it wasn't that loud. The volume was reasonable and the music was -- if not up my personal alley, at least in my zip code. Weirdly, though, it felt like Too Much. Suddenly I was getting irritated about stupid things. I walked Pete and Stella a half-block over to get ice cream and every last thing about the ice cream shop rubbed me the wrong way. It wasn't until we were walking home that I identified the problem: overstimulated. I could feel the irritation melting away as we headed down the block and into the quiet.
I have to say, I did not identify the "Less Overstimulation" pandemic silver lining until tonight.
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