A loud house is a full house. Silence isn’t always the upgrade you think it is.

A house full of noise is a house with people in it. Younger siblings, a TV on in another room, somebody on the phone too loudly, all of it grates while you are in it and turns strangely specific in your memory later, once the rooms have thinned out. Quiet is genuinely better sometimes and you are allowed to want it. It is just not always the upgrade it looks like from inside the noise.

Notice one sound at home this week that usually irritates you. Sit in it a minute rather than escaping upstairs. Then go be part of the noise for half an hour on purpose.